m 


•    lal  I 


I 


JUN  7-  iy 


William  1ban>es  Wells. 


IFn  /Iftemoriarru 


WILLIAM  HARVEY  WELLS, 


SKETCHES  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER, 


MEMORIAL  ADDRESSES 


AND 


PROCEEDINGS  AND  RESOLUTIONS  OF  PUBLIC  BODIES 
ON  THE  OCCASION  OF  His  DEATH. 


Dxring 


CHICAGO: 

FERGUS    PRINTING    COMPANY. 
1887. 


1     , 


•'"*«  '"«    •*      '  •*  * 


'^0'1??  ?ood"  ttyrou?!?  1695^69195  years 
ill  comes  tye  (I^S^r's  call; 

if(^,  a  peaceful  deatl?, 
I;eawe9  to  crou/p  It  all." 


From  a  poem  by  Miss  PHEBE  A.  HOLDER,  suggested  by  the  life-motto— 
"Doing  Good"— of  W.  H.  WELLS. 


M181744 


Memorial  Iftecorb. 

WILLIAM  HARVEY  WELLS, 

OLDEST  SON  OF  HARVEY  AND  RHODA  (CHAPMAN)  WELLS, 
BORN,  TOLLAND,  CT.,  FEB.  27,  1812, 

LIVED  ON  THE  HOME- FARM  UNTIL  17;  IN  1829-30,  ATTENDED 

AN  ACADEMY,  AND  IN  1831-2,  TAUGHT  A  DISTRICT-SCHOOL, 

AT  VERNON,  CONN.  ;   AT  ANDOVER,  MASS.,  ATTENDED 

FOR     EIGHT     MONTHS    THE     TEACHERS'    SEMINARY, 
WHERE    HE   TAUGHT    FROM    1836-47;    IN   1845, 

RECEIVED  HONORARY  DEGREE  OF  M.A. 

FROM  DARTMOUTH  COLLEGE; 

IN  1846,  ISSUED  HIS  "SCHOOL  GRAMMAR";  PRINCIPAL  OF  THE 

PUTNAM    FREE -SCHOOL,  AT   NEWBURYPORT,  MASS.,  FROM 

APRIL,   1848-54;    PRINCIPAL  OF  THE  STATE  NORMAL 

SCHOOL,   AT   WESTFIELD,    MASS.,    FROM    1854-6; 

SUPERINTENDENT    OF    PUBLIC    SCHOOLS    AT 

CHICAGO,  FROM  JUNE  i,  1856-64; 

ONE    OF    THE    ORGANIZERS    OF    THE    MASSACHUSETTS    STATE 
TEACHERS'  ASSOCIATION;   ONE  OF  THE  FIRST  EDITORS  OF 
THE    "MASSACHUSETTS    TEACHER";    AT    DIFFERENT 
TIMES   WAS   PRESIDENT   OF   THE    ESSEX -COUNTY 
(MASS.)  TEACHERS'  ASSOCIATION,  THE  MAS- 
SACHUSETTS STATE  TEACHERS'  ASSOCIA- 
TION, 'THE    NATIONAL    TEACHERS' 

ASSOCIATION,  CHICAGO  BOARD  OF  EDUCATION,  AND  BOARD  OF 
LIFE-UNDERWRITERS;  ONE  OF  THE  ORGANIZERS  AND  VICE- 
PRESIDENT  OF  THE  CHICAGO  ASTRONOMICAL  SOCIETY; 
MEMBER  OF  BOARD  OF   DIRECTORS  OF  CHICAGO 
PUBLIC  LIBRARY;  TRUSTEE  OF  THE  CHICAGO 

HOSPITAL  FOR  WOMEN  AND  CHILDREN; 

MEMBER  CHICAGO  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY,  CHICAGO  ACADEMY  OF 
SCIENCES,  ILLINOIS  STATE  BOARD  OF  EDUCATION,  YOUNG 
MEN'S  CHRISTIAN  ASSOCIATION,  ENGLISH  PHILOLOGI- 
CAL SOCIETY;  AUTHOR  OF  THE  GRADED  COURSE 
OF  INSTRUCTION;  ASSISTED  IN  THE  REVISION 
OF  WEBSTER'S  UNABRIDGED  DICTIONARY; 

ETC.,  ETC.; 

DIED,  CHICAGO,  ILL.,  JANUARY  21,  1885, 
INTERRED  AT  ROSEHILL  CEMETERY. 


CONTENTS. 


Biographical  Sketch.  8 

Proceedings: 

Board  of  Education,  School  Officers  and  Teachers,     35 

Mr.  Wells'  Farewell  Address,  36 

Teachers'  Meeting,  43 

Life  Insurance  and  Other  Work,  46 

Extract  from  Mr.  WTells'  Journal,  48 

Address  to  Alumni  of  Westfield  State  Normal  School,  50 

Memorial : 

Address  of  Prof.  F.  W.  Fisk,  68 

Sermon  by  Rev.  A.  E.  Kittredge,  Extract  from  73 

Newspaper  Extracts,  74 

Sketch  by  Louisa  Parsons  (Stone)  Hopkins,  78 
.  Board  of  Education,                                                   -       82 

Chicago  Public  Library,  87 

Life -Underwriters'  Association,  88 

Chicago  Astronomical  Society,  89 
Chicago  Academy  of  Sciences,                                   -       91 

Teachers  of  the  Public  Schools,  94 

Washingtonian  Association,  95 

Letters,  Extracts  from    -  96 

Illinois  State  Teachers'  Association,  100 

"  Dictionaries,  and  Dictionary -Making,"  105 


HIS  memorial  volume  will  form  a  welcome  and  per- 
manent addition  to  the  libraries  of  the  many  who 
loved  and  revered  the  late  WILLIAM  HARVEY  WELLS, 
and  still  cherish  his  memory  as  one  which  the  Scriptures 
assures  us  shall  be  "  blessed."  It  is  thought  best  to  pre- 
sent, with  very  little  preliminary,  the  material  prepared 
during  his  long  and  honored  lifetime  by  those  who  were 
most  competent  to  judge  him,  and  bore  unsolicited  testi- 
mony to  their  high  appreciation  of  his  worth.  Hence,  no 
separate  biographical  sketch  has  been  attempted  by  the 
compiler.  It  is  enough  that  in  the  following  pages  the 
friends  of  the  departed  should  speak  for  him,  and  that 
some  of  his  own  most  valued  utterances  of  tongue  and 
pen  should  be  preserved  in  association  with  their  thoughts,, 
as  a  jewel  with  its  setting. 

The  first  article  was  written  by  Charles  Northend,. 
editor  of  the  "Connecticut  Common-School  Journal,"' 
and  published  in  1860,  in  the  eighth  volume  of  the. 
"  American  Journal  of  Education." 


Biographical  Sketch. 


1  I  IILLIAM  HARVEY  WELLS  was  born  in  Tolland, 
\AJ  Conn.,  Feb.  27th,  1812.  His  father  was  a  farmer 
in  moderate  circumstances,  and  the  son  lived  at  home, 
working  most  of  the  time  on  the  farm  and  attending  a 
small  district-school,  for  a  few  weeks  each  winter,  till  the 
age  of  seventeen  years.  An  incident  that  occurred  dur- 
ing this  period  is  deserving  of  notice,  as  having  had  an 
important  influence  in  forming  his  character.  He  had 
undertaken  to  master  the  last  half  of  Daboll's  "Arith- 
metic," £nd  advanced  as  far  as  cube  root,  without  assist- 
ance from  his  instructor.  But  here  he  met  with  obstacles 
which  seemed  to  him  insurmountable,  and  after  a  day's 
trial  he  told  his  father  he  should  be  obliged  to  call  on  his 
teacher  for  help.  The  father  had  watched  with  interest 
the  successive  steps  of  his  progress,  and  now  advised  him 
to  remain  at  home  a  day,  and  see  if  he  could  not  over- 
come the  difficulty.  The  day  passed,  but  no  light  dawned 
upon  the  mysteries  of  this  cabalistic  rule,  and  he  gave  it 
up  in  despair.  Again  his  father  encouraged  him  to  per- 
severe, and  recommended  that  he  should  remain  at  home 
another  day.  The  second  day  passed  with  no  better 
success  than  the  first;  but  his  father  still  urged  him  to 
rely  upon  his  own  resources,  and  assured  him  that  he  had 
strength  enough  to  master  the  rule  alone,  if  he  would 
only  call  it  into  exercise.  The  labors  of  the  third  day 
were  crowned  with  success ;  but  the  triumph  he  had 
gained  over  the  unexplained  difficulties  of  a  formal  rule 
in  arithmetic  was  of  little  moment  compared  with  the 
2.  9 


10  \VILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS.     ' 

new  views  he  had  acquired  of  the  power  of  determined 
and  persevering  effort. 

He  now  manifested  an  irrepressible  desire  for  improve- 
ment, and  often  entreated  his  father  to  allow  him  the 
privilege  of  attending  an  academy.  He  had  already  com- 
menced the  practice  of  keeping  a  diary,  and  for  a  period 
of  nearly  twelve  years  he  did  not  omit,  for  a  single  day, 
to  make  entries. 

His  ardent  desire  to  enjoy  higher  and  better  advantages 
was  at  length  gratified  ;  and  though  he  was  obliged  to 
labor  daily  with  his  hands  to  meet  the  expense  of  his 
board,  his  tasks,  both  in  school  and  out  of  it,  were  per- 
formed with  a  light  heart,  and  life  opened  bright  before 
him. 

The  fall  and  winter  of  1829-30,  were  spent  at  an  acad- 
emy in  Vernon,  Conn.,  under  the  charge  of  Theodore  L, 
Wright,  A.M.,  afterward  the  distinguished  principal  of  the 
Hartford  Grammar- School.  It  was  here,  at  the  age  of 
seventeen,  that  he  was  introduced  for  the  first  time  to  the 
study  of  English  grammar.  But  here  we  prefer  to  let  his 
teacher  speak  for  him  :  "  Early  in  the  term,"  says  Mr. 
Wright,  "  I  noticed,  with  daily  increasing  interest,  peculiar 
characteristics  and  developments  in  young  Wells.  It  was 
soon  manifest  that  he  had  entered  the  school  with  a  deter- 
mined purpose  of  making  the  most  of  his  time  and  oppor- 
tunities. His  ear  was  ever  open  to  the  requirements  of 
his  teacher,  to  which  he  made  it  a  point  of  honor  and 
conscience  strictly  to  conform,  and  that,  too,  irrespective 
of  the  sentiments  or  practices  of  his  fellow-pupils.  His 
lessons  were  studied  in  the  most  careful  and  thorough 
manner,  and  no  subject  or  recitation  satisfied  him  over 
which  there  rested  a  shadow  of  obscurity.  Fresh  in  my 
recollection  as  if  it  were  but  yesterday,  is  that  earnest, 
honest,  persevering  expression  of  countenance,  habitual 
from  day  to  day,  and  kindled  with  a  glow  of  enthusiastic 
delight,  as  often  as  a  new  truth  in  literature  or  science  was 
brought  to  his  clear  comprehension. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  II 

"After  two  terms  at  the  academy,  he  left,  and,  for  a 
short  time,  engaged  in  teaching  a  district  school*  I  was 
soon  called  to  a  new  position  at  East  Hartford,  in  an 
English  and  classical  school,  and,  such  were  the  favorable 
impressions  made  on  my  mind  by  young  Wells,  that  I 
broached  to  him  the  suggestion  that  he  should  commence 
a  course  of  study  preparatory  for  college." 

Mr.  Wells,  in  accordance  with  the  suggestion  of  Mr. 
Wright,  commenced  a  course  of  study  with  the  design  of 
entering  college.  By  his  own  efforts  he  defrayed  the 
expenses  of  board  and  tuition,  and  with  all  the  ardor  of 
his  nervous  temperament  applied  himself  to  study.  But 
the  undertaking  was  too  severe  for  him,  and  at  length  his 
eyes  became  so  seriously  affected  that  he  was  obliged  to 
abandon  his  favorite  project  just  as  his  preparatory  course 
was  nearly  completed.-f  He  was  afterward  employed  a 
part  of  the  time  in  assisting  Mr.  Wright.  "  In  this  situa- 
tion," says  Mr.  W.,  "  he  early  exhibited  that  peculiar  tact 
for  teaching  which  has  since  more  manifestly  proved  that 
his  profession  for  life  was  wisely  chosen.  He  continued 
his  efforts  as  assistant  for  two  years,  and  during  this  time 
he  inspired  in  my  mind  a  confident  anticipation  of  his 
eminent  success  as  an  educator  of  youth.  He  at  this  time 
determined  to  make  teaching  his  profession,  and,  at  my 
suggestion,  went  to  the  Teachers'  Seminary  at  Andover,, 
Mass.,  in  order  better  to  qualify  himself  for  his  chosen 
vocation.  The  advantages  of  this  school  proved  highly 
serviceable  to  him,  and  after  remaining  at  Andover  a  few 
months  he  returned  to  assist  me.j  During  the  last  year 

*  The  following  winter  was  spent  at  an  academy  in  his  native  town;  and' 
during  the  winter  of  1831-2,  he  taught  a  district  school  in  Vernon,  at  tea 
dollars  a  month,  and  "  boarded  around. " 

t  Being  for  a  time  unable  to  make  any  use  of  books,  and  undecided  as  to 
his  future  course,  he  devoted  a  few  weeks  to  the  construction  of  an  electrical 
machine  of  considerable  power,  with  which  he  amused  himself  and  his  friends, 
and  somewhat  astonished  not  only  the  children  of  the  neighborhood,  but  many 
of  the  lower  order  of  animals. 

J  During  his  connection  with  the  Teachers'  Seminary  at  Andover,  he  be- 


12  WILLIAM   HARVEY   WELLS. 

of  my  teaching  in  East  Hartford,  the  English  department 
of  the  school  was  mainly  under  the  instruction  of  Mr. 
Wells,  and  was  remarkably  prosperous.  As  an  evidence 
of  his  success  and  popularity  at  this  time,  it  may  be  stated 
that  forty  pupils  attended  the  school  from  the  city  of 
Hartford,  nearly  all  of  whom  walked  from  the  city,  daily, 
a  distance  of  two  miles  or  more.  When  I  left,  for  a 
voyage  to  Europe,  I  recommended  Mr.  Wells  as  my  suc- 
cessor. He  was  retained  on  terms  very  advantageous  to 
himself,  and  his  services  were  held  in  the  highest  esteem 
by  the  patrons  of  the  school. 

"From  my  earliest  acquaintance  with  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  his  indefatigable  industry  has  ever  been  a  marked 
feature  in  his  character.  Work  of  some  kind  has  seemed 
to  be  his  natural  element.  Out  of  this,  he  was  unsatisfied 
and  restless.  When  his  eyes  would  not  endure  reading 
and  study,  he  was  even  the  more  earnest  in  acquiring 
knowledge  from  books  through  the  eyes  of  others,  em- 
ployed to  read  for  him.  In  this  way,  for  several  years, 
he  made  most  of  those  acquisitions  which  he  afterward 
reduced  to  practical  use,  both  in  teaching  and  in  preparing 
his  publications.  Though  compelled  to  dependence  in 
this  respect,  he  was  remarkably  independent  and  self- 
reliant  in  his  processes  of  thought  and  solution  of  difficult 
questions  and  problems. 

"In  his  pocket-memorandum  new  and  striking  facts,  as 
they  were  presented,  were  carefully  noted :  also  all  words 
of  doubtful  import  or  uncertain  pronunciation,  as  he  heard 
them,  were  recorded  for  future  examination,  provided  a 
dictionary  was  not  at  hand.  His  diary  was  his  vade 
mecum  wherever  he  went,  whether  to  hear  a  lecture  or  a 
sermon,  to  visit  a  friend,  or  to  take  one  of  his  driving- 
came  much  interested  in  the  study  of  geology  and  mineralogy.  In  company 
with  the  teachers  and  other  members  of  the  school,  he  made  frequent  geolog- 
ical excursions,  and  collected  a  cabinet  of  several  hundred  specimens.  But 
the  subject  which  chiefly  engrossed  his  attention  was  that  to  which  his  life 
has  since  been  devoted — the  theory  and  practice  of  teaching. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  13 

walks  for  exercise,  thus  garnering  treasures  from  every 
source.  The  storehouse  of  his  mind  thus  replenished, 
furnished  delightful  entertainment  to  his  pupils  at  recita- 
tion. 

"  I  have  always  regarded  the  eminent  success  of  Mr. 
Wells  as  a  teacher,  as  mainly  owing  to  his  enthusiastic  inter- 
est in  the  subject  taught,  and  also  in  the  pupils  whom  he 
taught;  his  zeal  and  energy,  the  meantime,  all  under  the 
guidance  of  good  sense  and  discretion,  while  deeply  pene- 
trated himself  by  a  consciousness  of  his  own  personal 
responsibility." 

A  circumstance  that  occurred  in  his  early  history  as  a 
teacher  is  worthy  of  mention,  as  illustrating  a  predominant 
trait  of  his  character: 

Among  the  classes  which  he  was  called  to  instruct,  was 
one  in  algebra,  composed  mostly  of  older  pupils.  Though 
he  had  previously  studied  the  text-book,  there  were  several 
problems  in  it  which  he  had  never  been  able  to  solve. 
There  was  one  in  particular  on  which  he  had  already  tried 
his  strength  several  times  without  success.  His  class  was 
now  rapidly  approaching  this  problem,  and  he  felt  the 
necessity  of  being  prepared  for  any  emergency.  He  there- 
fore set  himself  at  work  in  earnest  and  devoted  several 
hours  to  the  unsolved  problem  ; — but  still  the  desired 
result  seemed  as  far  from  his  grasp  as  ever.  Mortifying 
as  the  alternative  was,  he  decided  at  length  to  go  to  one 
of  the  teachers  of  the  school  and  ask  for  assistance.  This 
individual  kindly  engaged  to  examine  the  question,  but 
remarked  that  as  it  had  been  some  time  since  he  reviewed 
that  portion  of  the  book,  the  mode  of  solution  might  not 
readily  occur  to  him.  The  class  had  already  reached  the 
section  in  which  the  difficulty  occurred,  and  there  was  no 
time  to  be  lost.  After  one  or  two  days,  the  problem  was 
returned  to  him  without  a  solution.  What  could  be  done? 
To  go  before  his  class  and  acknowledge  that  he  was  unable 
to  master  it,  would  be  to  lose  caste  at  once.  The  neces- 
sity of  the  case  suggested  one  more  expedient.  He  had 


14  WILLIAM    HARVEY    WELLS. 

a  friend  in  an  adjoining  city  who  was  quite  distinguished 
as  a  mathematical  teacher.  To  the  house  of  this  friend  he 
resolved  to  direct  his  steps;  but  on  arriving,  he  learned 
to  his  utter  confusion,  that  his  friend  had  left  home  and 
would  not  return  for  several  days.  His  last  hope  had  fled. 
With  a  burden  of  chagrin  and  mortification  that  was  al- 
most insupportable,  he  commenced  retracing  his  steps. 
"What,"  thought  he,  "does  all  this  mean?"  After  walking 
a  few  moments  in  silent  meditation,  his  emotions  found 
audible  utterance.  "  I  can  solve  the  problem,"  he  said, 
with  emphatic  gesture,  "and  I  will  solve  it."  He  went  to 
his  room,  and  seating  himself  at  his  table,  he  did  not  rise 
till  the  task  was  accomplished.  He  has  often  alluded  to 
this  single  triumph  as  of  more  real  value  to  him  than  a 
year  of  ordinary  study.  It  caused  him  to  know  his  own 
strength,  and  taught  him  to  think  and  to  depend  upon  his 
own  resources. 

It  has  been  previously  stated  that  Mr.  Wells  had  for 
a  time  connected  himself  with  the  flourishing  Teachers' 
Seminary  at  Andover,  then  under  the  charge  of  Rev.  S.  R. 
Hall,  the  well-known  author  of  the  volume  of  "  Lectures 
on  School- Keeping."  During  the  eight  months  that  he 
passed  here,  he  gained  the  confidence  and  respect  of  the 
principal  to  such  a  degree  that  he  was,  in  less  than  two 
years  after  leaving,  invited  to  return  and  assist  Mr.  Hall 
in  the  instruction  of  this  seminary.  This  was  a  field  con- 
genial to  his  tastes,  and  here  he  continued  to  labor  through 
the  various  fortunes  of  the  seminary  for  a  period  of  eleven 
years,  from  1836  to  1847,  his  attention,  for  most  of  this 
time  being  divided  between  the  general  department  of  the 
school  and  the  special  or  teachers'  department. 

Though  still  afflicted  with  weak  eyes,  he  here  planned 
and  executed  an  extended  course  of  English  reading.  For 
several  years  he  employed  one  of  the  students  to  read  for 
him  evenings,  and  his  reading  was  always  accompanied 
with  the  use  of  either  pen  or  pencil.  On  one  occasion,  he 
entered  into  a  reading  partnership  with  a  student  in  the 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  15 

Theological  Seminary,  and  during  the  evenings  of  a  single 
term  they  read  together  the  whole  of  Shakspeare's  dramas, 
besides  several  volumes  on  mental  and  moral  science, 
often  carrying  their  reading  and  discussions  into  the  morn- 
ing hours. 

While  connected  with  this  seminary  he  was  accustomed 
to  discuss  before  his  teachers'  classes,  from  year  to  year, 
the  principles  of  grammar  in  connection  with  a  careful 
analysis  of  Milton  and  other  poets.  In  his  course  of 
English  reading,  which  was  carried  forward  at  the  same 
time,  it  was  his  practice  to  mark  such  examples  as  would 
be  most  serviceable  in  testing  or  illustrating  these  prin- 
ciples. Several  hundred  volumes  of  standard  English  lit- 
erature were  read  in  this  way,  during  a  period  of  about 
nine  years,  and  many  thousands  of  examples  noted  and 
classified  for  this  purpose.  The  result  of  these  investi- 
gations and  comparisons  was  finally  embodied  in  the 
41  School  Grammar,"  which  was  first  published  in  1846; 
and  up  to  the  present  time  [1860],  nearly  three  hundred 
thousand  copies  of  this  work  have  been  issued. 

In  1845,  the  honorary  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  was 
conferred  on  Mr.  Wells  by  the  trustees  of  Dartmouth 
College.  Few  men  have  proved  more  worthy  of  such  a 
compliment. 

S.  H.  Taylor,  LL.D.,  the  well-known  and  esteemed  prin- 
cipal of  Phillips  Academy,  Andover,  thus  writes:  "The  first 
time  I  saw  Mr.  Wells  to  know  him,  was  at  an  accidental 
meeting  of  some  half-dozen  persons,  mostly  teachers,  but 
he  a  pupil.  The  conversation  turned  on  some  point,  in 
regard  to  which  there  was  considerable  difference  of  opin- 
ion. I  was  particularly  struck  with  the  confidence  with 
which  Mr.  Wells  advanced  his  views — not  the  confidence 
of  one  who  seemed  obtrusive,  or  out  of  his  place,  but  of 
one  who  had  thoroughly  studied  the  subject  and  knew 
what  he  said.  I  then  marked  him  for  future  observations. 

"  In  his  subsequent  connection  with  Phillips  Academy 
as  a  teacher,  there  were  some  characteristics  worthy  of 


1 6  WILLIAM   HARVEY   WELLS. 

notice.  He  was  thoroughly  earnest;  he  was  alive  to  his 
work,  and  was  impelled  by  a  strong  inward  impulse  to  do 
whatever  would  secure  success  in  it.  The  clear  ring  of  his 
voice  as  he  propounded,  in  quick  succession,  questions  to- 
his  class,  was  sufficient  to  indicate  to  those  who  might  not 
see  the  glow  upon  his  countenance,  how  strong  a  sym- 
pathy he  had  with  his  work.  Indeed  he  might  be  said  to- 
be  enthusiastic  in  whatever  he  taught,  and  his  pupils  at 
once  imbibed  his  spirit.  With  such  an  electrical  influence 
constantly  emanating  from  the  teacher,  none  of  his  classes 
ever  showed  the  listlessness  and  indifference  so  often  seen 
in  the  school-room. 

"He  was  always  master  of  the  subjects  which  he  taught, 
He  spared  no  expense  or  labor  which  might  give  him  a 
more  comprehensive  and  exact  acquaintance  with  the  var- 
ious topics  which  came  before  his  classes.  He  gathered 
around  him  books  from  every  quarter,  and  studied  them 
with  unwearied  patience.  Sometimes  his  severest  and 
most  protracted  labor  was  employed  in  settling  what  are 
too  often  considered  small  points,  and  passed  over  with 
some  general  remarks,  or  not  touched  at  all.  Such  ques- 
tions Mr.  Wells  settled,  as  far  as  they  could  be  settled, 
and  then  discussed  them  with  his  classes,  in  the  end  giving: 
them  his  own  results.  No  teacher  within  my  knowledge 
drew  sharper  lines  here  than  he. 

"He  resolutely  and  persistently  held  the  pupil  respon- 
sible to  do  for  himself  all  he  supposed  to  be  in  his  power. 
Many  a  teacher  has  the  same  theory,  but  I  have  never 
known  it  so  severely  reduced  to  practice  as  in  Mr.  Wells' 
system  of  teaching.  Many  of  his  pupils  have  found  them- 
selves toiling  over  mathematical  questions  more  than  a 
week  after  they  came  up  in  course ;  but  there  was  no- 
release  till  the  difficulty  was  mastered — the  pupil,  by  this 
process,  gaining  mental  strength  and  confidence  in  himself 
which  would  greatly  diminish  other  similar  difficulties. 

"His  views  of  discipline  were  sound  and  judicious.  He 
governed  with  ease  because  he  never  required  what  was 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  I/ 

unreasonable,  and  what  he  did  require,  his  pupils  well 
knew  must  be  met.  In  the  support  of  good  order  and 
wholesome  discipline,  his  associate  teachers  always  knew 
that  they  were  sure  of  his  warm  cooperation.  I  well 
remember  an  instance  when  it  became  necessary  for  the 
principal  to  discipline  a  number  of  members  of  the  school,, 
and  when,  as  is  not  unusual  in  such  cases,  the  sympathy 
of  a  portion  of  even  the  better  class  of  the  school  was  with 
those  who  had  been  disciplined,  Mr.  Wells  took  occasion  to- 
say,  when  all  his  classes  were  before  him,  that  the  discipline 
which  had  just  been  administered,  was  the  noblest  and 
most  manly  act  that  he  had  known  since  his  connection 
with  the  school.  Men  of  different  views  of  the  value  of 
proper  discipline,  or  of  different  character,  would  have 
saved  themselves  the  trouble  of  making  this  remark,  hop- 
ing thereby  not  to  endanger  their  own  popularity. 

"In  times  and  circumstances  like  these,  Mr.  Wells  showed 
an  energy  and  decision  of  character,  a  true  heroism,  which 
evinced  his  real  worth,  and  assured  his  associates  on  how 
strong  an  arm  they  could  lean.  I  need  only  add  that  all 
Mr.  Wells'  relations  with  his  associates  here  were  of  the 
most  happy  and  fraternal  character." 

Mr.  J.  S.  Eaton,  who  succeeded  Mr.  Wells  at  Andover, 
thus  writes:  "As  a  teacher,  Mr.  Wells  had  a  rare  tact,  or 
faculty,  to  communicate  his  ideas  to  his  pupils  and  to 
awaken  thought  and  enthusiasm  in  them. 

"At  one  time  it  was  my  good  fortune  to  be  a  member 
of  his  classes  in  grammar  and  algebra,  and  occasionally  he 
would  take  the  place  of  another  teacher  in  book-keeping, 
geometry,  etc.,  and  invariably,  in  such  a  case,  the  class  was 
quickened  and  the  darkness  that  hung  about  them  was 
dispelled. 

"As  a  disciplinarian  he  was  equally  happy.  I  remember 
an  instance  in  the  algebra  class  of  a  young  man  who  was 
very  talkative — excusing  himself  for  a  poor  lesson  in  frac- 
tions because  it  was  algebra  and  not  arithmetic.  '  If  it 
were  arithmetic  he  could  solve  the  examples  easily  enough." 


1 8  WILLIAM   HARVEY   WELLS. 

Mr.  Wells  very  promptly  gave  him  an  example  in  arith- 
metic involving  precisely  the  same  principles,  and  again 
the  pupil  failed  and  attempted  to  excuse  himself  in  some 
other  way,  becoming  more  loquacious  than  before,  when 
Mr.  Wells  silenced  him  with  a  playful  but  decisive :  — 
'  Please  allow  me  to  talk  a  part  of  the  time.'*  I  name  this 
little  incident  as  illustrative  of  his  skill  in  managing  a 
recitation  and  in  controlling  a  wayward  pupil. 

"  I  might  say  much  of  Mr.  Wells  as  a  man,  a  gentleman, 
a  Christian — but  it  will  be  unnecessary.  All  who  knew 
him  will  always  remember  his  excellence  in  these  respects." 

While  connected  with  the  Andover  academy,  Mr.  Wells 
had  the  use  of  a  valuable  theodolite  and  other  mathemat- 
ical instruments,  and  gave  special  attention  to  practical 
surveying  and  some  branches  of  civil  engineering.  It  was 
his  custom  to  spend  much  time  in  the  fields  with  his 
classes,  out  of  school  hours,  and  make  careful  surveys  of 
the  different  farms  belonging  to  the  institution  and  other 
portions  of  the  town. 

In  the  summer  of  1847,  Mr.  Wells  was  elected  principal 
of  the  Putnam  Free  School,  Newburyport,  Mass.  This 
institution  was  founded  by  the  munificence  of  Oliver 
Putnam,  a  native  of  Newburyport.  Mr.  Putnam  left  a 
-certain  amount  to  be  invested  until  it  should  increase  to 
the  sum  of  $50,000,  and  then  to  be  appropriated  to  found- 
ing a  "Free  English -School  for  the  instruction  of  youth 
wherever  they  may  belong."  The  trustees  from  the  com- 
mencement determined  that  thoroughness  should  constitute 
.an  important  feature  of  the  instruction  in  this  school — 
believing  that  it  was  far  better  to  have  a  limited  number 
of  pupils  thoroughly  instructed  than  a  larger  number  less 
carefully  taught.  With  this  view  the  number  at  first  was 
limited  to  eighty. 

Though  Mr.  Wells  was  elected  in  the  summer  of  1847, 
he  was  not  expected  to  enter  upon  his  duties  in  Newbury- 

*  It  should  be  remembered  that  the  pupils  were  young  men — some  of  them 
as  old  as  their  instructor. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  19 

port  till  the  spring  of  1848.  Soon  after  his  election,  he 
resigned  his  position  at  Andover,  in  order  that  he  might 
secure  a  few  months  of  relaxation  before  entering  his  new 
field  of  labor.  But  it  is  no  easy  matter  for  a  thoroughly 
live  educator  to  cease  from  work — and  hence  Mr.  Wells 
might  be  found  enjoying  his  vacation  by  assisting  Mr. 
Barnard,  then  superintendent  of  schools  in  Rhode  Island, 
in  conducting  teachers'  institutes.  He  also  rendered  much 
of  the  same  kind  of  service  in  Massachusetts  and  New 
Hampshire.  Not  a  few  teachers  at  these  institutes  re- 
ceived from  Mr.  Wells  an  impulse  in  the  right  direction, 
which  they  will  never  lose.  The  eyes  of  many  were 
opened  to  behold  the  business  of  teaching  in  a  new  and 
more  truthful  light. 

In  April,  1848,  Mr.  Wells  entered  upon  his  duties  at 
Newburyport  full  of  hope,  and  during  a  period  of  six 
years  he  labored  with  his  wonted  zeal,  and  his  efforts  were 
crowned  with  abundant  success.  The  school  became  one 
of  the  prominent  attractions  of  the  beautiful  city  in  which 
it  was  located.  From  the  outset,  the  Putnam  Free  School 
was  an  institution  of  rank  and  influence.  It  was  well 
supplied  with  illustrative  apparatus,  and  Mr.  Wells  gave 
an  extended  course  of  experiments  every  year,  in  chemis- 
try and  natural  philosophy.  These  lectures  and  experi- 
ments were  attended  by  a  large  number  of  citizens  with 
manifest  satisfaction  and  profit. 

Another  branch  to  which  he  gave  special  attention  was 
astronomy.  His  instructions  in  this  branch  were  always 
accompanied  with  evening  observations  of  the  heavenly 
bodies,  and  each  member  of  the  higher  classes  was  re- 
quired to  present  at  least  one  original  calculation  of  an 
eclipse.  He  procured  at  his  own  expense  an  achromatic 
telescope  with  an  object-glass  five  and  one- fourth  inches 
in  diameter,  and  a  focal  length  of  seven  feet  and  three 
inches.  This  instrument  he  still  retains  for  his  private 
use. 

L.  F.  Dimmick,  D.D.,  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  Putnam 


2O  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

Free  School,  in  writing  of  Mr.  Wells,  says :  "  He  has  a 
vigorous  and  well-furnished  mind.  He  is  ardent,  devoted, 
enthusiastic,  even  in  his  work.  He  has  a  rare  faculty  of 
inspiring  his  pupils  with  the  like  spirit  of  enterprise  and 
love  of  study.  His  plan  of  instruction  is  comprehensive 
and  well  balanced ;  and  he  so  leads  his  pupils  through  it 
as  to  call  up  and  improve  the  deeper  and  stronger  ele- 
ments of  their  being.  I  consider  him  as  holding  a  very 
high  place  among  the  distinguished  educators  of  the 
time." 

It  was  during  his  residence  at  Andover  and  Newbury- 
port  that  the  writer  became  intimately  acquainted  with 
Mr.  Wells.  From  the  first  he  felt  drawn  toward  him  and 
attached  to  him  by  that  earnest  manner  and  thorough 
devotion  with  which  he  engaged  in  every  undertaking 
designed  to  advance  the  cause  of  popular  education.  He 
was  ever  ready  to  contribute  of  his  time,  his  means,  his  in- 
fluence, for  the  good  of  the  cause.  For  many  years  he 
was  one  of  the  most  efficient  members  and  officers  of  the 
Essex-County  Teachers'  Association,  of  which  he  was  an 
honored  president  for  two  years.  He  was  constant  in  his 
attendance  upon  the  semi-annual  meetings  of  this  useful 
association,  and  was  ever  devising  means  to  make  them 
more  interesting  and  useful.  It  was  the  writer's  privilege 
frequently  to  meet  him  on  committee  business  at  these 
associations,  and  he  was  always  decided,  clear,  and  cour- 
teous. It  was  a  marked  trait  of  his  character  that  he 
always  knew  of  what  he  affirmed,  and  he  so  affirmed  as  to 
cause  all  who  heard  feel  that  he  possessed  a  zeal  that  was 
according  to  knowledge. 

While  president  of  this  association,  he  offered  prizes  for 
essays  on  educational  subjects,  to  be  read  at  the  semi- 
annual meetings.  These  premiums  he  paid  from  his  own 
resources.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say,  that  Mr.  Wells' 
influence  will  be  felt  for  good  in  this  association  for  scores 
of  years  to  come — a  perpetuating  good. 

Mr.  Wells  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Massachusetts 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  21 

State  Teachers'  Association,  of  which  he  was  president  for 
two  years.  His  efforts  in  behalf  of  this  organization  were 
always  judicious  and  earnest.  He  was  also  one  of  the  pro- 
jectors and  early  editors  of  the  "  Massachusetts  Teacher." 
Those  who  have  lately  entered  the  educational  service  can 
but  poorly  appreciate  the  amount  of  labor  required,  and 
the  amount  rendered  by  active  members,  a  score  of  years 
ago.  But  Mr.  Wells'  entire  training  and  mental  discipline 
from  the  commencement  of  his  course  of  study,  tended 
eminently  to  fit  him  for  efficient  aid  in  the  incipient  stages 
of  educational  organizations  and  efforts. 

In  1854,  the  Massachusetts  board  of  education  mani- 
fested their  appreciation  of  Mr.  Wells'  worth  as  an  edu- 
cator by  placing  him  at  the  head  of  the  Westfield  State 
Normal  School.  Under  his  direction  the  school  rapidly 
increased  in  numbers,  and  in  less  than  two  years  the  legis- 
lature deemed  it  necessary  to  make  a  special  appropria- 
tion for  enlarging  the  building. 

Though  Mr.  Wells  remained  at  Westfield  only  two  years 
it  was  sufficiently  long  to  enable  him  to  leave  his  impress 
upon  the  institution,  and  to  secure  the  highest  regard  and 
confidence  of  the  board  of  education  and  the  friends  of  the 
school.  His  system  of  combining  the  practice  of  teaching 
with  the  study  of  the  different  branches  is  worthy  of 
special  notice;  not  because  it  was  peculiar  to  this  school, 
but  because  it  here  received  more  than  usual  attention, 
and  because  in  some  normal  schools  its  importance  is 
believed  to  be  under- estimated,  especially  in  the  lower 
classes. 

As  soon  as  a  pupil  entered  the  school,  he  was  made  to 
feel  that  all  his  studies  and  recitations  must  bear  directly 
upon  the  main  object  before  him.  However  deficient  a 
class  might  be  found  in  the  elementary  branches,  they 
were  never  required  to  go  through  a  course  of  preparatory 
lessons,  as  such.  They  were,  of  course,  required  to  study 
these  elements,  but  to  study  them  as  teachers  and  not  as 
mere  scholars — knowing  that  their  ability  to  teach  the 


22  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

principles  they  were  studying  would  be  regarded  as  the 
most  important  part  of  the  lesson — and  that  this  ability 
would  be  sure  to  be  tested  at  the  recitation.  He  that 
studies  a  lesson  for  the  purpose  of  qualifying  himself  to 
instruct  others  in  its  principles,  is  more  likely  to  master 
the  subject  itself,  than  he  who  studies  it  merely  to  recite 
as  a  pupil.  Viewed  in  this  light,  the  defective  qualifica- 
tions of  most  of  the  pupils  who  enter  our  normal  schools 
are  found  to  be  an  evil  of  less  magnitude  than  many  have 
been  accustomed  to  regard  them. 

Another  marked  feature  of  his  course  of  instruction  at 
Westfield  was  the  prominence  given  to  the  study  of  the 
English  language  and  literature.  This  did  not  consist 
solely  nor  mainly  in  giving  special  attention  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  rhetoric  and  grammatical  analysis,  but  the  great 
productions  of  the  language  were  themselves  subjected  to 
a  careful  and  searching  investigation.  Classes  were  also 
formed  in  Latin,  not  for  the  purpose  of  making  proficients 
in  that  language,  but  chiefly  as  a  means  of  studying  the 
derivation  of  our  own  tongue. 

On  commencing  his  labors  at  Westfield,  he  felt  the  need 
of  counsel  from  others  engaged  in  the  same  field  of  labor, 
and  wrote  to  several  normal  teachers,  suggesting  the  ex- 
pediency of  calling  a  meeting  of  normal-school  teachers 
for  the  purpose  of  mutual  consultation  and  aid.  The 
proposition  was  favorably  received,  and  he  accordingly 
sent  letters  of  invitation  to  the  principals  of  the  different 
normal  schools  in  the  country  to  meet  in  convention  at 
New  York,  in  connection  with  the  National  Teachers' 
Association.  A  meeting  was  held  on  the  3Oth  of  August, 
1856,  and  from  this  originated  the  present  "American 
Normal- School  Association,"  which  promises  much  use- 
fulness. 

In  May,  1856,  Mr.  Wells  resigned  his  position  at  West- 
field  with  a  view  to  accepting  an  appointment  as  superin- 
tendent of  public  schools  in  Chicago,  111. — and  on  the  1st 
of  June  he  entered  upon  the  discharge  of  his  new  duties. 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH.  23. 

This  was  a  highly  important  position  and  one  well  fitted 
for  the  full  exercise  of  Mr.  Wells'  mind  and  energies. 

One  of  the  objects  that  first  claimed  his  attention  in 
Chicago  was  the  organization  of  the  high  school  in  a  new 
and  commodious  edifice.  To  this  Mr.  Wells  gave  his 
earnest  attention,  and  he  spared  no  effort  that  might  tend 
to  make  this  new  school  a  model  of  its  kind.  It  was. 
opened  to  pupils  of  both  sexes  on  the  8th  of  October, 
1856,  and  embraced  in  its  plan  three  distinct  departments. 
— classical,  English  high,  and  normal.  With  a  thoroughly 
digested  plan  of  operation  and  management,  this  school 
has,  from  the  outset,  maintained  a  high  position,  and  few 
cities  can  boast  of  better  educational  advantages  in  the 
higher  departments  than  those  afforded  by  the  Chicago 
High-School. 

As  soon  as  the  high  school  was  in  successful  operation, 
he  directed  his  thoughts  to  the  lower  grades  of  schools — 
and  particularly  to  the  primary.  Well  understanding  that 
the  higher  grades  could  not  be  truly  and  permanently 
elevated  unless  the  under  grades  were  what  they  should 
be,  his  active  and  practical  mind  was  awake  to  devise 
means  for  the  improvement  of  the  lower  classes,  in  which 
the  children  receive  their  earliest  and  most  lasting  school 
impressions;  and  as  one  of  the  most  important  measures, 
for  the  accomplishment  of  this  object,  he  recommended 
that  the  assistants  in  the  primary  departments  should 
receive  a  rate  of  compensation  equal  to  that  paid  to  the 
female  assistants  in  the  grammar  schools. 

His  annual  reports  to  the  Chicago  board  of  education 
are  interspersed  with  practical  and  well-digested  views  on 
a  variety  of  educational  topics.  The  following  passages 
in  relation  to  primary  schools,  are  extracted  from  his 
report  for  the  year  1858-9: 

"Our  primary  schools  are  the  basis  of  our  whole  system. 
If  evils  are  suffered  to  exist  here,  they  will  manifest  them- 
selves in  all  the  higher  stages  of  the  pupil's  progress,  and 
cling  to  him  through  life. 


24  WILLIAM   HARVEY   WELLS. 

*  Scratch  the  green  rind  of  a  sapling,  or  wantonly  twist  it  in 

the  soil; 
The  scarred  and  crooked  oak  will  tell  of  thee  for  centuries 

to  come/ 

"  It  is  in  the  primary  schools  that  more  than  half  of  all 
our  public  instruction  is  imparted,  and  a  large  portion  of 
the  children  gathered  here  do  not  remain  in  school  long 
enough  to  pass  into  the  higher  departments  at  all. 


"To  excel  as  a  primary  teacher  requires  peculiar  natural 
gifts,  a  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  first  principles  of 
knowledge,  special  fondness  for  young  children,  and  an 
abiding  consciousness  that  there  is  really  no  higher  depart- 
ment of  useful  labor  than  that  of  giving  direction  to  the  first 
efforts  of  minds  that  are  opening  to  an  endless  existence. 

"  There  is  no  other  grade  of  schools  in  which  the  per- 
sonal character  of  the  teacher  is  so  directly  felt  as  in  the 
primary.  In  the  grammar  school,  lessons  are  learned  from 
text-books,  and  very  much  of  the  pupil's  progress  is  made 
without  the  direct  assistance  of  the  teacher.  But  in  the 
primary  schools,  the  teacher  is  herself  the  text-book,  the 
living  oracle;  and  nearly  all  the  impressions  received  by 
the  pupil  are  a  direct  reflection  from  her  own  mind  and 
heart. 

*  *  #  *  *  * 

"  Reading,  the  most  important  branch  of  school  instruc- 
tion, is  generally  the  most  imperfectly  taught,  especially 
in  primary  schools.  Why  is  it,  that  in  listening  to  a  child 
who  is  reading  the  most  colloquial  piece  that  can  be  chosen 
we  find  so  marked  a  difference,  in  most  cases,  between  the 
tones  and  modulations  he  employs  and  those  of  common 
conversation  ?  The  answer  is  a  sad  reflection  upon  the 
manner  in  which  reading  is  generally  taught  in  elementary 
schools. 

"That  this  evil  is  necessary,  no  intelligent  teacher  be- 
lieves. If  we  look  for  the  seat  of  the  difficulty,  we  shall 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  25 

probably  find  one  of  the  principal  causes  in  the  fact  that 
most  children  are  first  taught  to  call  the  names  of  a  large 
portion  of  the  words  they  read,  without  understanding 
their  meaning.  The  remedy  of  the  evil  is  suggested  by 
the  cause.  Let  no  unmeaning  words  be  presented  to  the 
young  learner,  and  let  no  word  ever  be  read  without  being 
understood.  It  is  not  enough  that  the  word  has  a  mean- 
ing, and  that  the  child  is  presumed  to  understand  what  it 
is;  the  teacher  should  be  sure  that  the  child  actually  does 
understand  every  word  that  is  read.  The  first  words  in- 
troduced should  always  be  the  names  of  common  and 
familiar  objects.  The  objects  themselves  should  be  re- 
ferred to,  and  if  possible  presented  to  the  test  of  the 
senses.  The  teacher  should  talk  with  the  pupils  about 
the  objects,  and  employ  the  words  in  simple  and  familiar 
sentences,  so  that  the  reading  may  be  associated  with 
common  conversation,  and  be  made  as  nearly  like  it  as 
possible.  These  directions  are  very  few  and  very  simple, 
and  they  have  been  given,  substantially,  many  times  be- 
fore; and  yet,  if  they  had  been  faithfully  followed  in  all 
the  elementary  schools  of  the  country,  we  should  probably 
find  less  than  half  the  unnatural  reading  which  we  now 
witness. 

"  In  respect  to  the  manner  of  giving  children  their  first 
lessons  in  reading,  a  considerable  diversity  of  practice  still 
exists.  Some  teachers  adhere  to  the  system  of  teaching 
the  alphabet  first,  then  short  syllables,  and  then  words 
and  sentences.  Others  commence  with  the  sounds  of  the 
letters  and  then  proceed  to  their  combination  in  words. 
Others  commence  with  words  and  afterward  introduce  the 
sounds  and  names  of  the  letters  of  which  they  are  com- 
posed. Others  teach  a  few  letters  first  by  their  names, 
and  then  proceed  to  combine  these  letters  in  simple 
words ;  thus  teaching  the  alphabet  and  words  simultan- 
eously. There  is,  however,  at  the  present  time  a  very 
decided  tendency  to  what  is  called  the  word  method. 
Words  have  meaning ;  letters  have  none.  Words  are  as 
3 


26  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

easily  learned  as  letters,  and  they  naturally  precede  letters. 
It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  time  is  near  when  the  philos- 
ophy of  education  will  be  better  understood,  and  when  all 
teachers  will  learn  that  it  is  safe  to  follow  nature  in  our 
efforts  to  cultivate  the  minds  of  children.  Who  would 
think  of  teaching  a  child  the  different  parts  of  which  a  tree 
is  composed  before  he  has  learned  to  distinguish  the  tree 
itself?  A  child  does  not  learn  to  call  the  name  of  a  house 
by  studying  the  windows,  doors,  chimneys,  roof,  etc.;  but 
he  first  learns  to  recognize  the  house  as  a  whole,  and  the 
parts  that  compose  it  are  learned  afterward.  So  in  read- 
ing: the  natural  order  is  to  learn  the  whole  word  first,  and 
afterward  to  learn  the  names  and  sounds  of  the  letters 
composing  it. 

"  One  great  excellence  of  this  method  is  the  aid  it  af- 
fords in  teaching  children  to  read  naturally  and  with  cor- 
rect expression.  If  no  other  object  were  accomplished, 
this  alone  would  be  sufficient  to  recommend  it  to  the 
favorable  regard  of  school  officers  and  teachers. 

"  The  exact  point  at  which  the  names  of  the  letters  are 
to  be  introduced  is  not  a  matter  of  much  importance,  so 
that  we  preserve  the  main  features  of  the  system  unim- 
paired. The  natural  order  of  the  different  steps  is  mani- 
festly the  following:  First,  the  object  itself  is  presented  to 
the  senses  ;  next,  the  name  of  the  object  is  pronounced 
and  learned.  As  the  spoken  word  consists  of  sounds,  the 
next  step  in  order  is  to  analyze  the  sounds  and  utter 
them  separately.  After  this,  the  names  of  the  letters  are 
learned. 

"If  any  teacher  prefers  to  teach  the  names  of  the  letters 
as  fast  as  they  occur  in  the  words  learned,  no  harm  can 
result  from  such  a  course.  But  the  sounds  of  the  letters, 
which  are  the  real  elements  of  all  spoken  words,  should 
by  all  means  be  learned  as  early  as  the  names." 

Of  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Wells  in  his  present  situation, 
we  can  only  add  the  following  testimony  from  Luther 
Haven,  Esq.,  president  of  the  board  of  education  of 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  2J 

Chicago,  a  gentleman  who  has  been  untiring  in  his  efforts 
to  improve  the  schools  of  his  adopted  city  :  "  Mr.  Wells 
brought  to  the  service  of  the  board  of  education,  and  to 
the  interests  of  the  schools,  all  those  admirable  traits  of 
character  which  had  tended  so  greatly  to  enhance  his 
success  and  usefulness  in  every  position  he  had  previously 
occupied,  and  these  traits  he  has  devoted  with  untiring 
industry  and  perseverance,  with  all  the  powers  of  his  well- 
trained  mind,  to  the  building  up  of  our  public  schools,  and 
placing  them  in  such  a  condition  as  to  command  the  con- 
fidence and  support  of  our  whole  community.  His  labors 
have  been  eminently  successful.  For  the  high  position 
now  held  by  our  schools  in  the  estimation  of  our  whole 
community,  for  the  harmony  and  good-feeling  now  exist- 
ing among  all  parties  in  relation  to  them,  we  are  indebted 
in  no  small  degree  to  the  prudence,  care,  kindness,  and 
firmness  of  Mr.  Wells.  To  sum  up  in  a  few  words,  his 
doings  have  been  abundant  and  satisfactory — his  success 
eminent  and  enviable." 

But  the  influence  of  such  a  man  can  not  be  confined 
within  town  or  city  limits.  He  was  one  of  the  first  mem- 
bers of  the  Illinois  State  board  of  education,  elected  for  a 
period  of  six  years,  and  he  has  rendered  valuable  and 
judicious  aid  in  the  establishment  of  the  Illinois  State 
Normal  School,  and  in  promoting  the  best  interests  of 
popular  education  in  the  State. 

In  closing  this  brief  memoir  of  Mr.  Wells  as  an  educator,, 
we  would  call  the  attention  of  young  students  and  teachers, 
to  a  few  only  of  those  prominent  features  which  are  at: 
once  most  characteristic  of  him  and  which  should  lead! 
others  to  a  career  as  widely  useful  and  successful,  should! 
similar  opportunities  of  labor  be  presented.  WThile  he  has 
risen  to  a  high  position  among  the  leading  educators  of 
our  times,  it  is  not  believed  that  his  success  has  been  so 
much  the  result  of  unusual  natural  abilities  as  of  untiring 
and  well-directed  application.  Many  to  whom  the  author 
of  life  has  been  more  bountiful  in  the  bestowment  of  naU 


28  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

ural  gifts  have  been  entirely  surpassed  by  him,  simply 
because  his  talents  were  improved  by  constant  and  varied 
use,  while  theirs  were  carefully  "laid  up  in  a  napkin." 

Mr.  Wells  may  be  justly  classed  with  what  are  called 
self-made  men.  Marcel,  in  his  treatise  on  language,  says: 
"The  eminence  attained  by  great  men  is  always  the  result 
of  their  own  industry," — and  this  it  is  believed  is  strictly 
true.  Most  of  our  truly  great  and  eminent  men,  in  any 
department,  have  gained  their  high  position  by  close 
application  and  untiring  industry.  They  have  kept  their 
talent  bright  and  productive  by  constant  and  wise  use. 
B.  B.  Edwards,  D.D.,  in  the  essay  prefixed  to  his  "Biog- 
raphy of  Self-Taught  Men,"  says:  "Men  of  this  class  have 
the  faculty  of  clearly  communicating  their  knowledge  to 
others.  In  this  respect  they  make  excellent  teachers. 
They  have  worked  their  own  way  up  the  steeps  of  knowl- 
edge, and  they  can  point  out  the  path  in  which  they 
came." 

It  was  a  cardinal  principle  of  Mr.  Wells,  during  his 
whole  course  as  an  educator,  that  the  teacher's  highest 
mission  is  not  to  impart  instruction  merely,  but  rather  to 
rouse  and  call  forth  the  pupil's  own  energies.  He  well 
knew  what  obstacles  lie  in  the  scholar's  path,  and  also  how 
to  surmount  them.  Many  a  desponding  pupil  has  been 
quickened  and  cheered  on  to  successful  effort  by  the  kind 
words  of  Mr.  Wells,  calling  them  through  the  devious  and 
difficult  paths  he  had  himself  walked,  up  to  positions  of 
usefulness  and  honor.  He  knew  the  value  of  words  of 
encouragement,  and  he  also  knew  how,  when,  where,  and 
to  whom  to  give  them. 

During  his  preparatory  course  of  study,  he  was  at  one 
time  on  the  point  of  abandoning  his  books  and  turning 
his  attention  to  other  pursuits,  on  account  of  the  serious 
interruptions  and  embarrassments  to  which  he  was  sub- 
jected while  attempting  to  continue  his  course  without 
pecuniary  assistance.  In  this  emergency  he  sought  the 
advice  of  a  shrewd  and  intelligent  manufacturer,  a  grad- 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  29 

uate  of  Yale  College,  whose  means  had  always  been  equal 
to  his  wants.  To  his  great  surprise,  his  friend  assured 
him  that  he  was  in  the  best  possible  circumstances  to 
insure  success.  "When  I  was  in  college,"  said  his  friend, 
"I  had  money  enough,  and  the  same  was  true  of  about 
half  of  my  class-mates.  Many  of  us  burned  the  candle  at 
both  ends  all  the  way  through  college.  And  now,  if  you 
ask  who  of  all  the  class  have  attained  to  any  degree  of 
eminence,  you  will  find  them,  almost  without  exception, 
among  those  who  had  to  struggle  through  their  own 
course  with  little  or  no  assistance."  All  who  have  oppor- 
tunity for  observation  will  admit  the  general  truth  of  this 
statement.  Its  effect  on  young  Wells  was  to  clothe  Latin 
and  Greek  with  new  attractions,  and  obstacles  were  after- 
ward welcomed  as  the  surest  and  best  helps  to  success. 
He  was  always  hopeful.  He  felt  that  whatever  was  worth 
accomplishing  could  be  achieved  by  patient  effort,  and  he 
was  deterred  by  no  obstacles  from  attempting  to  do  what 
he  felt  ought  to  be  done.  And  it  may  be  asserted  that 
hundreds  of  his  pupils  have  imbibed  his  spirit,  and,  in 
consequence,  become  working  and  efficient  men;  —  men 
of  mind,  men  of  self-reliant  spirit,  men  of  indomitable 
perseverance,  men  of  marked  success. 

The  following  extract  from  a  lecture  on  Self-Reliance, 
delivered  by  Mr.  Wells  before  the  American  Institute  of 
Instruction,  embodies  one  of  the  principles  by  which  his 
own  life  was  governed,  and  which  he  never  failed  to 
inculcate  in  the  minds  of  his  pupils: 

"The  highest  and  most  important  object  of  intellectual 
education  is  mental  discipline,  or  the  power  of  using  the 
mind  to  the  best  advantage.  The  price  of  this  discipline 
is  effort.  No  scholar  ever  yet  made  intellectual  progress 
without  intellectual  labor.  It  is  this  alone  that  can 
strengthen  and  invigorate  the  noble  faculties  with  which 
we  are  endowed.  However  much  we  may  regret  that 
we  do  not  live  a  century  later,  because  we  can  not  have 
the  benefit  of  the  educational  improvements  that  are  to 


30  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

be  made  during  the  next  hundred  years,  of  one  thing  we 
may  rest  assured,  that  intellectual  eminence  will  be  at- 
tained during  the  twentieth  century  just  as  it  is  in  the 
nineteenth — by  the  labor  of  the  brain.  We  are  not  to 
look  for  any  new  discovery  or  invention  that  shall  super- 
sede the  necessity  for  mental  toil;  we  are  not  to  desire 
it.  If  we  had  but  to  supplicate  some  kind  genius,  and  he 
would  at  once  endow  us  with  all  the  knowledge  in  the 
universe,  the  gift  would  prove  a  curse  to  us,  and  not  a 
blessing.  We  must  have  the  discipline  of  acquiring  knowl- 
edge in  the  manner  established  by  the  Author  of  our 
being,  and  without  this  discipline  our  intellectual  stores 
would  be  worse  than  useless. 

"  The  general  law  of  intellectual  growth  is  manifestly 
this:  whatever  may  be  the  mental  power  which  we  at 
any  time  possess,  it  requires  a  repetition  of  mental  efforts 
equal  in  degree  to  those  which  we  have  put  forth  before, 
to  prevent  actual  deterioration.  Every  considerable  step 
of  advance  from  this  point  must  be  by  a  new  and  still 
higher  intellectual  performance.  There  are  many  im- 
pediments in  the  path  of  the  student  which  it  is  desirable 
to  remove;  but  he  who  attempts  to  remove  all  difficulties, 
or  as  many  of  them  as  possible,  wars  against  the  highest 
law  of  intellectual  development." 

Had  Mr.  Wells  been  content  to  follow  the  example  of 
most  beginners  in  teaching,  and  simply  "kept  school"  six 
hours  daily,  "boarded  'round,"  and  received  his  ten  dollars 
per  month,  he  would  never  have  gained  any  eminence  or 
achieved  any  desirable  success.  But  he  engaged  in  teach- 
ing con  amore,  and  gave  to  it  all  his  thoughts,  his  talents, 
his  energies.  He  was  not  content  with  the  old  ways, 
unless  fully  satisfied  that  they  were  the  best  ways.  Con- 
sequently he  was  always  aiming  to  improve  in  methods 
of  teaching.  Some  of  the  innovations  introduced  in  his 
first  school  were  regarded  with  -distrust  by  the  committee 
and  viewed  as  unreasonable  —  or,  perhaps,  as  notional. 
The  introduction  of  Colburn's  "  First  Lessons  in  Mental 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH,  31 

Arithmetic," — now  considered  as  almost  a  sine  qua  non 
by  most  good  teachers — was  only  permitted  after  he  had 
made  a  special  visit  to  nearly  every  parent  in  the  district. 
He  constructed  a  blackboard  with  his  own  hands,  and  even 
the  painting,  or  rather  coloring,  was  extemporized  by  his 
mother  for  the.  occasion.  He  procured  a  set  of  outline 
maps,  drawn  on  cloth,  and  wrote  out  a  system  of  topics 
for  "Olney's  Geography,"  which  were  copied  by  the  class 
and  used  in  connection  with  the  maps  at  recitations. 
These  topics  were  subsequently  printed  and  used  in 
other  schools.  At  the  close  of  his  school,  it  may  be 
added,  the  committee  were  so  well  pleased  with  the 
results  that  they  purchased  the  outline  maps  and  the 
blackboard,  and  retained  them  for  the  use  of  the  district. 

From  the  commencement  of  his  course,  Mr.  Wells  has 
aimed  to  be  eminently  practical  in  all  his  efforts  and 
writings.  As  a  superintendent  of  schools,  he  has,  by  his 
good  sense  and  judgment,  gained  the  entire  confidence 
of  those  associated  with  him,  and  the  results  of  his  sug- 
gestions and  plans  have  convinced  all  that  he  was  no 
visionary  schemer.  All  his  counsels  and  all  his  doings 
have  shown  that  he  was  no  less  wise  in  deeds  than  in 
words.  With  him  it  has  not  been  mere  theory,  but 
theory  and  practice. 

Mr.  Wells  has  ever  been  remarkably  methodical  in  all 
his  plans  and  arrangements.  It  has  been  owing  to  this, 
in  no  small  degree,  that  he  has  been  able  to  accomplish 
so  much  for  himself  and  for  the  cause  to  which  his  ener- 
gies have  been  devoted.  System  and  exactness  have 
been  applied  to  his  reading,  his  studies,  his  educational 
labors,  and  to  all  his  engagements.  Though  always  busy, 
he  has,  at  all  times,  arranged  to  perform  his  part  in  any 
public  measures  which  have  called  for  his  aid.  No  item 
of  business  with  which  he  has  had  anything  to  do  in 
connection  with  others,  has  ever  been  delayed  for  a 
single  hour  on  account  of  any  negligence  on  his  part. 
Prompt  in  fulfilling  every  engagement,  it  has  always 


32  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

been  safe  to  rely  upon  him.  The  writer  has,  in  numerous 
instances,  been  associated  with  him  on  committees,  and 
no  negligence  or  dilatoriness  on  his  part  ever  occasioned 
a  minute's  delay  or  loss  of  time.  We  well  remember  a 
certain  occasion  on  which  we  were  to  meet  him  at  a 
specified  place  and  hour — at  a  point  sojne  eight  miles 
distant  from  his  residence  and  our  own.  As  we  ex- 
pected, he  was  on  the  ground  at  the  precise  time  speci- 
fied, and  this  regard  to  promptness  was  always  prominent 
in  his  mind  and  in  his  practice — so  that  all  who  knew 
him  placed  the  most  implicit  confidence  in  any  arrange- 
ment or  agreement  made  by  him.  This  exactness  on  his- 
part  has  had  a  very  salutary  influence  on  all  connected 
with  him,  whether  as  associates  or  as  pupils.  He  has 
been  in  these  particulars  a  model  worthy  the  imitation  of 
all  teachers. 

Another  trait  which  should  be  held  up  for  the  special 
imitation  of  others  is  his  strong  professional  feeling.. 
From  the  outset  he  believed  that  every  man  owes  some- 
thing to  his  chosen  profession;  and  under  this  belief  he 
has  ever  been  ready,  "  in  season  and  out  of  season,"  to 
labor  for  the  improvement  and  true  elevation  of  the 
teacher's  calling.  All  who  have  met  him  at  educational 
associations  and  gatherings  will  remember  with  what 
earnestness  and  interest  he  engaged  in  all  discussions  and 
plans  designed  for  the  common  good.  Whenever  he 
rose  to  speak,  all  felt  that  they  were  about  to  listen  to 
words  from  one  whose  heart  was  full  of  the  great  work 
before  him,  and  one  who  was  striving  in  every  honorable 
way  to  magnify  the  vocation  of  the  teacher.  If  all 
teachers  were  imbued  with  the  same  esprit  de  corps  ever 
manifested  by  Mr.  Wells,  how  potent  and  extensive 
would  be  their  influence ! 


Friends  who  were  associated  with  him  for  many  years 
in  the  departments  named,  contribute  the  following: 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  33 

Mr.  Wells  was  a  student  of  astronomy  in  his  youth. 
He  was  not  merely  a  reader  of  such  popular  expositions 
of  the  science  as  were  then  available,  but  did  his  best  to 
master  the  hidden  depths  of  star  lore.  He  had  imported 
to  his  order  such  works  as  the  astronomical  and  mathe- 
matical volumes  of  the  "  Encyclopedia  Metropolitana,"  the 
British  Association  "Catalogue  of  Stars,"  Smyth's  "Celes- 
tial Cycle,"  and  the  36- inch  globe  maps  of  the  Society 
for  the  Diffusion  of  Useful  Knowledge.  He  also  procured 
what  is  still  a  very  good  refracting  telescope  of  five  inches 
aperture,  and  worked  faithfully  with  it,  as  he  desired  to 
see  for  himself  what  the  instrument  had  to  reveal  of  the 
wonders  of  the  starry  firmament. 

He  devoted  much  time  to  a  study  of  the  planetary 
phases,  but  to  him  the  moon  was  the  great  attraction. 
He  watched  her  patiently  and  earnestly,  not  simply  as  a 
gazer,  but  as  a  man  who  wanted  to  know  all  about  the 
most  prominent  spots  on  her  surface.  The  writer  is  not 
aware  that  Mr.  Wells  ever  undertook  to  make  a  map  of 
the  moon,  but  he  did  take  copious  notes,  sketching  the 
appearance  of  the  terminator  at  various  dates,  accom- 
panied by  statements  of  the  moon's  angular  distance  from 
the  sun  at  the  time  of  each  observation.  He  wrote  several 
lectures  on  astronomical  topics,  and  delivered  them  in 
many  places  in  the  Eastern  States.  After  his  removal  to 
the  West,  he  accepted  only  a  few  invitations  to  lecture 
on  these  topics. 

Mr.  Wells  was  invited  to  attend  the  first  meeting  held 
in  Chicago  to  consider  the  proposition  to  build  an  obser- 
vatory in  that  city.  He  carefully  examined  the  original 
plan  of  action,  and  was  satisfied  it  was  not  a  desirable 
one.  It  was  his  correspondence  with  friends  in  the  East 
that  brought  out  a  knowledge  of  the  facts  which  led  to 
the  scheme  being  thrown  overboard,  and  a  new  departure 
taken.  The  proposed  telescope,  which  was  alleged  to  be 
superior  in  power  to  the  one  at  Harvard,  was  found  to 
have  been  offered  for  sale  for  $2000,  a  ridiculously  low 


34  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

price  for  a  first-class  instrument,  and  was  then  more 
directly  discovered  to  be  nothing  like  what  had  been 
claimed  for  it.  Then  Mr.  Wells  asked  if  it  were  not 
possible  to  obtain  the  telescope  of  eighteen  and  a-half 
inches  aperture  which  had  just  been  finished  by  the 
Clarkes  at  Cambridge,  and  had  already  become  celebrated 
by  the  discovery  of  the  companion  of  Sirius  before  leav- 
ing the  workshop.  He  was  answered  that  the  money 
could  be  procured  if  the  instrument  was  really,  as  alleged, 
the  best  in  the  world,  and  a  few  days  more  sufficed  to 
remove  all  doubt  on  that  point.  Then  a  committee  from 
the  Chicago  Astronomical  Society  visited  Boston,  and 
arranged  for  the  purchase  of  the  telescope.  The  rest  is 
history  which  needs  not  to  be  here  repeated,  but  the  point 
above  stated  has  not  previously  been  brought  out,  the 
well-known  modesty  of  Mr.  Wells  preventing  him  from 
making  the  slightest  allusion  to  a  fact  which  really  entitles 
him  to  rank  as  the  father  of  observational  astronomy  in 
Chicago. 

On  the  formal  organization  of  the  Chicago  Astronomi- 
cal Society,  in  1867^  Mr.  Wells  was  chosen  vice-president. 
He  held  that  office  till  the  time  of  his  death,  being  the 
only  man  who  retained  his  place  on  the  executive  com- 
mittee during  all  those  years.  His  services  were  too 
valuable  to  be  dispensed  with.  How  valuable  they  were 
could  only  be  known  by  those  who  were  intimately  asso- 
ciated with  him  in  the  management  of  the  society,  which 
included,  during  a  large  part  of  the  time,  the  management 
of  the  observatory  itself.  It  was  his  books  and  charts 
that  were  used  in  the  observatory  in  the  earlier  days  of 
its  history,  when  contributions  from  outside  were  few;  and 
he  poured  oil  upon  the  troubled  waters  in  times  of  dis- 
sension that  seemed  to  be  a  heritage  from  the  larger 
institution  to  which  it  was  auxiliary.  And  he  was  other- 
wise a  devoted  friend  to  astronomical  study.  More  than 
one  proprietor  of  a  street  telescope  regarded  him  as  a 
father,  in  the  scientific  sense  of  the  term,  and  often  applied 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  35 

to  him  for  the  solution  of  knotty  problems.  Many  of 
these  he  answered  off-hand,  from  the  knowledge  that  was 
within  him;  and  for  the  rest  he  would  refer  to  the  book 
or  the  individual  from  which  the  desired  information  could 
be  obtained. 


W.  H.  Wells  retired  from  the  office  of  superintendent 
of  public  schools  of  Chicago,  and,  avowedly,  from  all 
direct  participation  in  school  matters,  on  the  6th  of  July, 
1864.  The  occasion  was  signalized  by  a  gathering  of  the 
school  officers  and  teachers  of  Chicago,  which  is  thus 
described  by  the  Chicago  Tribune: 

The  exercises  of  the  High  School  were  closed  at  noon 
to  admit  the  assemblage  of  the  teachers  in  the  High- 
School  building  in  the  afternoon  to  listen  to  an  address 
by  the  retiring  superintendent — W.  H.  Wells — whose  resig- 
nation, recently  tendered,  was  very  unwillingly  accepted 
by  the  Board.  The  teachers  were  anxious  to  have  an 
opportunity  of  hearing  his  parting  words  of  cheer  and 
counsel,  and  of  testifying,  in  something  stronger  than 
words,  their  high  appreciation  of  his  worth.  The  large 
room  was  filled.  There  were  present  the  members  of  the 
present  Board  of  Education,  several  gentlemen  formerly 
members,  and  many  others  who  have  been  prominent  in 
the  education  of  the  rising  generation  in  this  and  other 
cities.  Nearly  all  the  teachers  in  the  public  schools  in 
the  city  were  present.  The  occasion  was  one  of  deep 
interest. 

The  chair  was  taken  by  Levi  B.  Taft,  the  president  of 
the  Board  of  Education ;  he  spoke  as  follows :  • 

"  The  Board  of  Education  have  called  this  meeting  at 
the  request  of  a  large  number  of  teachers,  in  order  to  give 
an  opportunity  to  exchange  final  greetings  with  Mr.  Wells, 
and  to  listen  to  some  parting  words  from  him,  before  his 
retirement  from  the  office  of  superintendent  of  our  schools. 
I  can  assure  you  that  the  Board  have  never  done  an  act 


36  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

with  so  much  pain  and  reluctance  as  the  acceptance  of 
Mr.  Wells'  resignation.  Every  effort  possible  was  made 
in  order  to  induce  Mr.  Wells  to  withdraw  his  resignation, 
but  his  failing  health  compelled  him  to  decline  complying 
with  our  request.  The  most  cordial  relations  have  ever 
existed  between  Mr.  Wells  and  the  Board.  The  utmost 
harmony  prevailed  in  all  our  actions.  Mr.  Wells  devoted 
eight  years  of  the  best  part  of  his  life  to  the  building  up 
of  our  schools.  His  whole  soul  has  been  in  this  work. 
He  has  been  untiring  in  his  labors,  and  devoted  all  his 
time  and  energies  to  the  schools.  He  has  had  the  kind 
cooperation  of  our  teachers  in  all  his  arduous  efforts. 
Our  schools  are  largely  indebted  to  him  for  the  high 
standard  of  excellence  to  which  they  have  now  attained. 
Mr.  Wells  will  carry  with  him  to  his  new  vocation  our 
best  and  kindest  wishes  for  his  success  and  happiness." 

Mr.  Wells,  the  superintendent,  then  arose  and  addressed 
the  assembly,  as  follows: 

"  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  BOARD  OF  EDUCATION  AND 

FELLOW-TEACHERS  : 

"  If  we  were  permitted  to  live  only  in  the  present  we 
should  lose  half  the  enjoyment  of  living.  In  early  years 
we  live  largely  in  the  future;  later  in  life  we  live  more  in 
the  past.  There  are  also  special  occasions  when  memories 
of  the  past  come  rushing  thick  upon  us,  and  the  leading 
events  of  many  years  pass  vividly  before  the  mind  in  the 
space  of  a  single  hour.  I  am  sure  I  shall  be  pardoned  if 
I  say  that  I  am  in  a  retrospective  mood  today,  and  my 
thoughts  turn  irresistibly  to  the  past.  I  remember,  away 
back  in -the  reign  of  Andrew  Jackson,  when  most  of  those 
before  me  were  not,  and  when  Chicago  was  in  pinafores, 
a  tall  youth  of  less  than  twenty  winters,  in  the  land  of 
steady  habits,  in  search  of  a  district  school.  And  when 
he  had  actually  engaged  to  teach  a  winter  school  at  ten 
dollars  a  month  and  '  board  around,'  and  began  to  feel 
that  he  was  crossing  the  line  between  boyhood  and  man- 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  37 

hood,   I   well    remember   such    heart -throbbings    as   were 
unknown  to  earlier  or  later  years. 

"  I  remember  also,  with  almost  painful  vividness,  that 
opening  morning  when  this  young  aspirant  for  didactic 
honors  walked  into  an  almost  empty  school-house,  leaving 
his  future  pupils  on  both  sides  of  the  road — -in  the  fields 
and  on  the  trees,  anywhere  and  everywhere,  apparently 
unconscious  that  so  important  a  personage  had  come 
among  them.  And  I  am  in  no  danger  of  forgetting  the 
difficulty  with  which  the  floor  of  the  room  and  those  long 
sloping  desks  were  freed  from  nuts  and  nutshells,  and 
other  contraband  articles,  and  the  scattered  children  per- 
suaded to  leave  their  various  pursuits  and  acknowledge 
allegiance  to  the  newly-inaugurated  administration. 

"  I  remember  those  weeks  of  struggle  between  inexper- 
ience, and  anxiety,  and  determination,  and  hope,  strangely 
commingling  on  the  one  hand;  and  ignorance,  and  boy 
nature,  and  girl  nature  on  the  other.  I  remember  how 
this  young  pedagogue,  who  had  just  begun  to  call  himself 
a  man,  as  soon  as  his  school  had  left  for  the  day  and  the 
doors  were  finally  closed,  night  after  night  forgot  all  his 
manhood  and  sat  and  wept,  until  an  almost  insupportable 
burden  of  chagrin,  and  mortification,  and  discouragement 
had  found  relief.  I  remember  how  the  button-holes  of 
his  coat,  which  at  the  beginning  of  the  school  would 
barely  reach  the  buttons,  at  the  close  of  it  would  reach  far 
beyond. 

"All  these  things,  and  volumes  besides,  of  which  these 
are  but  the  index,  I  well  remember,  though  most  that  has 
transpired  since  is  lost  in  forgetfulness.  Such  was  the 
beginning  of  an  educational  life  which  this  week  brings  to 
a  close. 

"Among  the  leading  educators  of  the  period  to  which 
I  am  carried  by  these  reminiscences,  were  James  G.  Carter, 
George  B.  Emerson,  S.  R.  Hall,  Wm.  C.  Woodbridge,  and 
Miss  Z.  P.  Grant,  of  Massachusetts ;  T.  H.  Gallaudet  of 
Connecticut ;  Mrs.  Emma  Willard  of  New  York ;  Wm. 


38  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

Russell  of  Pennsylvania;  and  Albert,  and  John  W.  Picket 
of  Ohio.  Horace  Mann  and  Henry  Barnard  were  then 
entirely  unknown  in  the  educational  world,  and  the  presi- 
dent of  our  honorable  Board  of  Education  was  then  a 
school-boy — at  the  head  of  his  class,  no  doubt,  but  only  a 
school-boy. 

"  The  American  Institute  of  Instruction,  now  the  grand 
patriarch  of  all  the  educational  associations  of  the  country, 
was  then  one  year  old,  and  the  Teachers'  Seminary  at 
Andover,  under  the  care  of  S.  R.  Hall,  had  attained  the 
same  age.  The  educational  literature  which  then  formed 
a  complete  Teachers'  Library  consisted  of  Hall's  "  Lect- 
ures on  School-keeping,"  a  single  volume  of  lectures  before 
the  American  Institute  of  Instruction,  four  volumes  of  the 
"American  Journal  of  Education,"  edited  by  Wm.  Russell, 
and  a  single  volume  of  the  ''Annals  of  Education,"  edited 
by  W.  C.  Woodbridge,  together  with  two  or  three  reprints 
of  foreign  works.  Today  the  teacher  has  his  choice  from 
a  library  of  more  than  a  thousand  volumes. 

"  I  could  not  then  have  taught  a  public  school  in  Chi- 
cago, for  there  was  none.  But  Chicago  had  then,  though 
unappreciated,  a  pecuniary  foundation  for  the  grandest 
system  of  city  schools  in  the  world.  The  section  set 
apart  for  the  support  of  schools  was  in  the  heart  of  the 
city,  bounded  by  Madison  street  on  the  north,  Twelfth 
street  on  the  south,  State  street  on  the  east,  and  Halsted 
on  the  west.  In  October,  1833,  all  but  four  of  the  one 
hundred  and  forty-two  blocks  of  this  section  were  sold  at 
auction  for  $38,865,  on  a  credit  of  one,  two,  and  three 
years.  The  remaining  four  blocks  are  now  valued  at 
$600,000.  The  value  of  that  portion  which  was  sold  is 
now  estimated  at  about  $10,000,000. 

"The  first  public  school  in  Chicago  was  taught  in  1834, 
thirty  years  ago,  in  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  on  the 
west  side  of  Clark  street,  between  Lake  and  Randolph. 
The  teacher  was  Miss  Eliza  Chappel,  now  the  wife  of  Rev. 
Jeremiah  Porter,  who  is  well  known  in  this  city. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  39. 

"  In  1839,  a  special  act  was  passed  by  the  legislature  in 
relation  to  the  common  schools  of  Chicago,  which  laid  the 
foundation  of  the  present  school  system. 

"The  first  Board  of  School  Inspectors  under  the  new 
organization  was  composed  of  William  Jones,  J.  Young 
Scammon,  Isaac  N.  Arnold,  Nathan  H.  Bolles,  John  Gray, 
Jas.  H.  Scott,  and  Hiram  Hugunin.  The  first  meeting  of 
this  Board  was  held  in  November,  1840,  and  William 
Jones  was  elected  chairman.  It  is  at  this  date  that  the 
written  records  of  the  public  schools  commence. 

"In  1844,  the  first  public  school-house  was  erected  on 
Madison  Street,  between  State  and  Dearborn.  It  was 
regarded  by  many  as  altogether  too  large  and  expensive, 
and  the  mayor  elected  the  following  year  recommended 
in  his  inaugural  address  that  the  council  should  either  sell 
the  house  or  convert  it  into  an  insane  asylum.  This  is 
the  building  now  occupied  by  the  Dearborn  school. 

"In  1854,  the  office  of  superintendent  of  public  schools 
was  created,  and  Mr.  John  C.  Dore  assumed  the  duties  of 
the  office.  The  improvements  introduced  by  Mr.  Dore 
were  thorough  and  extensive,  and  their  salutary  influence 
will  long  be  felt  in  the  schools. 

"  When  I  entered  upon  the  duties  of  my  present  posi- 
tion, on  the  1st  of  June,  1856,  the  number  of  teachers 
employed  in  the  public  schools  was  47.  At  the  present 
time  the  number  is  223,  an  increase  of  more  than  400  per 
cent.  In  June,  1856,  the  number  of  pupils  belonging  to- 
all  the  schools  was  2785.  In  June  of  the  present  year  the 
number  was  12,653,  being  an  increase  of  over  350  per  cent. 

"  The  Chicago  High  School  was  organized  soon  after  I 
came  to  the  city,  and  its  history  to  the  present  time  has 
been  a  record  of  continued  success.  Freed  from  the  tram- 
mels of  prejudice  that  exists  in  many  older  cities,  it  was 
organized  as  a  school  for  both  sexes,  and  time  has  fully 
demonstrated  that  for  Chicago,  at  least,  this  organization 
is  wisest  and  best. 

"The  marked  success   of  the  Normal   Department  is 


40  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

deserving  of  special  mention,  and  I  can  not  too  strongly 
commend  this  branch  of  our  system  to  the  fostering  care 
of  the  Board  of  Education  and  the  principal  of  the  High 
School.  The  training  received  in  this  department  is  pecul- 
iarly adapted  to  the  wants  of  our  own  schools,  and  most 
of  the  graduates  are  now  numbered  among  the  best 
teachers  of  the  city. 

"  There  is  another  department  of  our  system  to  which  I 
turn  with  peculiar  pleasure.  The  largest  portion  of  my 
time  has  been  given  to  the  primary  schools.  The  im- 
provements in  primary  instruction  that  have  been  made  in 
this  country  during  the  last  eight  years  have  been  greater 
than  during  the  previous  fifty  years,  and  I  trust  we  have 
not  been  behind  our  contemporaries  in  this  respect. 

"  In  looking  at  the  different  branches  of  our  system,  the 
high  school,  grammar  schools,  and  the  primary  schools, 
I  do  not  know  which  should  now  be  regarded  as  the  most 
successful.  All  the  parts  are  working  harmoniously  to- 
gether, and  mutually  aiding  each  other.  There  are  many 
things  yet  to  be  done  ;  many  improvements  yet  to  be 
made.  If  I  had  remained  in  the  schools  another  year 
there  are  two  objects  on  which  my  heart  was  specially 
set,  as  ends  for  which  I  should  labor  with  all  the  energy 
that  I  could  bring  to  bear  upon  them.  The  first  of  these 
objects  relates  to  the  discipline  of  the  schools.  I  believe 
our  schools  are  as  well  disciplined  as  those  of  any  other 
city.  The  discipline  is  as  mild,  as  kindly,  as  effective. 
But  I  believe  the  element  of  self -discipline  in  our  own 
schools,  and  in  all  schools,  may  yet  be  multiplied  four- 
fold; and  I  more  than  believe  that  this  increase  of  self- 
discipline  on  the  part  of  the  pupils  will  form  an  ele- 
ment of  untold  power  in  forming  the  habits  and  characters 
of  those  who  are  soon  to  control  the  destinies  of  the 
country.  The  teacher  who  has  the  power  of  cultivating 
in  his  pupils  the  habit  of  self-discipline  is  worth  two 
salaries  to  any  school  board ;  and  no  one  can  estimate  the 
different  effect  upon  the  character  of  the  child,  between 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  41 

growing  up  with  the  habit  of  self-control,  and  growing  up 
with  the  habit  of  depending  upon  the  pressure  of  outward 
restraint  for  the  daily  regulation  of  his  conduct.  The 
teacher  who  does  not  now  possess  this  power  can,  in  a 
greater  or  less  degree,  cultivate  it.  Fellow -teachers,  if 
there  is  any  one  sentiment  which  I  would  like  to  impress 
upon  your  minds  more  strongly  than  any  other,  as  I  take 
my  leave  of  you  and  of  the  schools,  it  is  this:  that  all 
school  discipline  which  does  not  have  for  its  ultimate 
object  self-discipline  on  the  part  of  the  pupils  is  a  failure. 
The  second  object  to  which  I  refer,  relates  to  the  use  of 
our  mother  tongue.  Great  improvements  have  already 
been  made  in  our  own  schools,  and  in  other  schools,  in  the 
study  of  English  grammar;  but  I  have  no  hesitation  in 
saying  that  greater  improvements  are  yet  to  be  made  in 
this  branch  of  instruction  than  in  any  other.  English 
grammar  professes  to  teach  the  art  of  speaking  and  writing 
the  English  language  correctly;  and  yet  it  is  manifest  to 
every  observer  that  English  grammar,  as  it  is  now  gener- 
ally taught,  does  not  impart  to  the  pupils  one  twentieth 
part  of  the  power  which  they  actually  acquired  in  the  use 
of  the  English  language.  The  time  will  never  come  when 
parsing  and  analysis  will  be  dispensed  with,  but  the  time 
will  surely  come  when  instruction  in  the  art  of  speaking 
will  consist  mainly  in  lessons  which  embrace  actual  speak- 
ing; in  exercises  designed  to  cultivate  the  art  of  conver- 
sation, of  narration,  and  other  forms  of  speech,  by  constant 
and  careful  practice  in  the  use  of  these  forms;  when  parsing 
and  analysis  will  find  their  appropriate  place  as  collateral 
aids  in  connection  with  the  daily  living  exercises  in  the 
use  of  the  English  tongue.  I  have  not  time  here  to  follow 
this  subject  out  into  details,  but  I  have  the  satisfaction  of 
knowing  that  the  members  of  the  Board,  and  the  teachers 
who  have  given  special  thought  to  the  matter,  agree  with 
me  in  the  views  which  I  have  advanced;  and  I  believe 
that  the  improvements  in  this  direction  which  have  al- 
ready been  commenced  will  be  continued  and  increased 
4 


42  WILLIAM   HARVEY   WELLS. 

till  one-half  of  the  time  which  is  now  consumed  in  the 
study  of  English  grammar  will  ^furnish  twice  the  fruit 
which  we  now  reap. 

"  No  portion  of  my  life  has  been  happier  than  that 
which  I  have  spent  in  the  schools  of  Chicago.  I  do  not 
remember  an  instance  in  which  I  have  recommended  a 
measure  for  the  improvement  of  the  schools  that  has  not 
received  the  full  and  ready  support  of  the  Board  of  Edu- 
cation, and  the  hearty  cooperation  of  the  teachers.  Whe,n 
I  desired  to  elaborate  a  graded  course  of  study  for  the 
schools,  the  teachers  with  one  accord  gave  me  their  aid  in 
its  preparation ;  the  Board  of  Education  adopted  it  with- 
out a  discussion ;  and  again  the  teachers,  with  labors 
materially  increased,  gave  their  hearty  cooperation  in 
making  it  a  success.  The  cordiality  with  which  my  visits 
to  the  schools  have  ever  been  welcomed  will  find  an  abid- 
ing place  among  the  sweetest  memories  of  my  life.  A 
thousand  tokens  of  kindness  and  of  confidence  have  light- 
ened my  labors  and  gladdened  my  heart  from  the  day  on 
which  I  entered  the  schools  till  the  present  time;  and  for 
all  of  them  I  desire  to  return  to  the  Board  of  Education, 
and  to  the  teachers,  my  sincerest  thanks. 

"  I  have  never  known  a  more  competent,  and  laborious, 
and  successful,  body  of  teachers  than  that  which  I  meet 
today,  in  these  intimate  and  endearing  relations  for  the 
last  time.  I  have  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  you  are 
also  appreciated  by  the  Board  of  Education,  and  I  am 
confident  they  will  soon  afford  you  substantial  evidence 
that  they  do  not  intend  to  leave  your  services  unrewarded. 

"  The  change  I  am  about  to  make  is  by  far  the  greatest 
change  of  my  life.  It  is  a  deliberate,  long-considered,  and 
final  decision;  and  I  can  not  but  recognize  the  hand  of 
Providence  in  presenting  so  favorable  an  opening,  just  at 
the  time  it  was  no  longer  safe  for  me  to  continue  the 
labors  and  cares  of  my  present  office.  With  the  urgent 
demands  of  health  that  I  should  leave  these  duties,  and 
an  attractive  field  of  labor  inviting  in  another  direction,  I 
could  not  hesitate. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  43 

"If  my  purpose  had  been  only  half- formed,  the  kind 
offer  of  a  six- months'  vacation,  with  a  continuance  of 
salary,  might  have  inclined  me  to  resume  these  pleasing 
labors.  I  may  also  mention  here  that  I  have  an  old 
school-mate  and  friend  in  Boston,  who  long  years  ago 
kindly  commended  me  for  choosing  the  educational  field, 
but  himself  persistently  turned  to  commercial  pursuits. 
As  time  passed  on  I  still  continued  to  receive  his  com- 
mendation and  encouragement,  but  he  has  always  man- 
aged somehow  to  live  in  a  large  house,  while  I  lived  in  a 
small  one.  Again,  we  both  felt  a  strong  desire  to  visit 
the  old  world.  He  had  the  means  of  gratifying  his  desire, 
and  spent  a  year  amid  the  classic  and  hallowed  associ- 
ations of  Greece,  and  Rome,  and  Egypt,  and  the  Holy 
Land,  while  I  was  compelled  to  remain  at  home.  And 
now,  singularly  enough,  just  at  the  time  when  I  have  this 
generous  offer  of  six  months'  rest,  my  good  friend  Hardy 
of  Boston  sends  me  an  invitation  to  take  a  free  passage  to 
the  Mediterranean  in  one  of  his  ships.  The  offer  is  a 
tempting  one;  the  two  together  are  very  tempting.  But 
I  can  not  be  mistaken  in  respect  to  the  path  of  duty. 

"My  educational  life  has  already  covered  a  period  nearly 
equal  to  the  average  life  of  man,  and  I  must  now  lay  it 
down,  and  turn  to  pursuits  widely  different,  but  I  trust 
not  wholly  uncongenial.  And  now,  honored  gentlemen 
of  the  Board  of  Education,  and  dear  fellow-teachers,  as. 
co-laborers  we  part.  May  every  blessing  attend  you  in 
your  continued  efforts  to  elevate  and  improve  the  public 
schools,  and  a  generation  of  children  be  made  wiser  and 
better  by  your  self-sacrificing  labors. 

'  Farewell !  a  word  that  must  be  and  hath  been, 
A  sound  that  makes  us  linger — yet  farewell! ;; 

The  meeting  of  the  Board  was  now  dissolved,  and  Mr. 
Taft  left  the  chair,  which  was  taken  by  J.  J.  Noble,  prin- 
cipal of  the  Haven  School.  A  meeting  of  the  teachers 
was  organized,  and  Mr.  S.  H.  White,  as  chairman  of  the 


44  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

committee  on  resolutions,  submitted  the  following,  signed 
by  S.  H.  White,  J.  R.  Devvey,  Jennie  E.  McLaren,  M. 
Louise  Wilson,  and  Mary  Noble.  They  were  unanimously 
adopted : 

WHEREAS,  Mr.  William  H.  Wells,  superintendent  of  the 
public  schools  of  this  city,  has  resigned  the  position  which 
he  has  so  long  successfully  filled,  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  we,  the  teachers  in  said  schools,  deeply 
regret  such  action  on  his  part,  especially  as  it  was  made 
necessary  by  a  proper  regard  to  his  health,  now  impaired 
by  close  application  to  his  arduous  duties. 

Resolved,  That  in  his  resignation  the  public  schools  of 
this  city  have  lost  the  services  of  one  to  whose  untiring 
labors  in  promoting  their  interests  they  are  largely  in- 
debted for  their  past  successes  and  present  prosperous 
condition;  and  that  the  cause  of  popular  education  has 
lost  one  of  its  ablest  and  most  successful  laborers  in  the 
promotion  of  its  interests. 

Resolved,  That  his  uniform  kindmess  and  encourage- 
ment have  contributed  very  greatly  to  the  pleasure  as  well 
as  the  success  of  the  teachers  in  the  public  schools;  that 
his  many  very  excellent  qualities  of  mind  and  heart  have 
won  for  him  an  affectionate  regard,  and  that  his  devotion 
and  zeal  in  the  duties  of  his  office  furnish  an  example 
worthy  of  imitation  by  all. 

Resolved,  That  our  kind  remembrances  and  best  wishes 
attend  Mr.  Wells  in  his  new  vocation. 

Mr.  George  Rowland,  principal  of  the  High  School, 
then  rose  and  advanced  in  front  of  Mr.  Wells.  He  bore 
in  his  hand  a  magnificent  gold  watch — valued  at  $400 — 
finished  in  the  highest  style  of  art.  Mr.  Howland  ad- 
dressed the  retiring  superintendent  as  follows: 

"MR.  SUPERINTENDENT: — The  resolutions  that  have 
just  been  read  and  adopted  seem  to  require  one  thing 
more,  and  the  pleasing  duty  has  been  assigned  to  me,  in 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  45 

behalf  of  the  teachers  of  Chicago,  of  presenting  to  you, 
sir,  a  visible  token  of  the  esteem  and  kind  regard  which 
they  express. 

"  In  withdrawing  from  the  position  which  you  have  so 
long  honored,  you  are  happy  in  leaving  behind  you,  in 
the  prosperous  condition  of  the  schools  of  our  city,  a 
living  witness  of  the  faithfulness  and  success  of  your  labors ; 
and  we  wish  you  to  take  with  you  to  your  new  vocation 
something  to  remind  you  of  the  appreciation  with  which 
you  have  been  received  by  us  who  have  aided  you  in 
giving  them  efficiency.  By  your  enlightened  and  com- 
prehensive views,  you,  sir,  have  won  golden  opinions  from 
all  true  friends  of  popular  education,  and  it  seems  but 
fitting  that  these  opinions  should  be  reflected  in  our  gift. 
The  welfare  of  our  schools  has  long  lain  near  your  heart, 
and  there,  too,  we  wish  the  remembrance  of  us  to  be 
borne.  We  have  had  our  times  subjected  to  your  control, 
and  been  under  your  careful  care  and  supervision,  and 
with  a  feeling  of  sweet  revenge,  perhaps,  we  have  desired 
to  have  the  tables  turned,  and  see  how  you  would  like 
to  have  your  time  directed  by  us,  and  with  what  spirit 
you  would  bear  our  watch;  and  be  assured,  sir,  that  as 
often  as  it  shall  tell  you  of  us,  it  will  tell  also  of  many  a 
heart  among  the  donors  which  will  ever  beat  no  less  true 
than  itself  with  respect  and  esteem  for  you." 

The  recipient  made  the  following  reply  in  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  literary  and  horological  testimonials  presented: 

"  Emotion  does  not  always  find  relief  in  utterance.  I 
have  no  language  to  express  the  gratitude  I  feel  for  these 
kind  expressions  of  confidence  and  esteem,  and  for  this 
munificent  token  of  sympathy  and  affection.  I  have  not 
been  in  constant  communion  with  you  during  the  last 
eight  years  without  making  this  parting  hour  one  of 
intense  feeling  —  the  strongest  of  which  my  nature  is 
capable. 

"There  are  times  when  I  love  to  wander  back  to  child- 


46  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

hood's  hours,  and  live  over  again  those  early  days,  when 
the  trials  and  disappointments  of  life  had  not  taught  me 
the  lessons  of  sadness  which  I  have  since  learned.  There 
are  times  when,  starting  from  those  bright  and  halcyon 
days,  I  love  to  roam  along  the  pathway  of  life,  culling 
only  the  choicest  fruits  and  flowers,  and  binding  them  in 
one  rich  garland  of  delighted  existence.  If  my  life  is 
spared,  and  I  may  hope  in  years  to  come  to  enjoy  a  retro- 
spective view  of  all  that  is  bright  and  attractive  in  the 
past,  then  will  this  faithful  monitor,  while  it  measures  the 
moments  as  they  glide  swiftly  by,  tell  also  of  the  many 
happy  hours  we  have  spent  together;  and  then  will  the 
sweet  savor  of  these  pleasant  memories  shed  its  choicest 
perfumes  all  around. 

"  For  all  these  manifestations  of  kind  regard,  may  you 
receive  a  rich  reward  in  your  own  hearts;  and  may  your 
future  lives  be  as  peaceful  and  happy  as  they  are  useful 
and  honored." 

This  terminated  the  formal  exercises;  even  more  affect- 
ing scenes  followed.  The  members  of  the  Board,  teachers, 
and  other  friends  assembled  around  Mr.  Wells  and  took 
their  leave  of  him.  It  was  an  occasion  which  will  be 
borne  on  the  memories  of  all  present,  through  many  years 
of  future  labor. 


In  the  early  summer  of  1864,  the  Charter- Oak  Life 
Insurance  Company  tendered  to  Mr.  Wells  the  agency  of 
that  company  for  the  State  of  Illinois.  The  offer  was 
made  with  full  knowledge  of  his  deep  and  abiding  love 
for  educational  work,  but  with  the  knowledge  also  that 
his  many  years  of  service  as  a  teacher,  and  the  exacting 
demands  upon  his  time  and  thoughts  as  superintendent 
of  the  public  schools  of  Chicago,  had  impaired  his  health 
to  an  extent  which  compelled  to  thought  of  a  change  in 
occupation. 

After  due  deliberation  he  accepted  and   entered   upon 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH.  47 

the  duties  of  the  position  with  characteristic  energy  and 
enthusiasm,  studiously  acquainting  himself  with  the  flaws, 
condition,  and  business  methods  of  the  company  he  was 
to  represent,  and  applying  himself  to  the  study  of  the 
principles  and  laws  of  life  insurance,  until  he  became 
widely  recognized  as  one  of  the  best-informed  men  in  the 
profession.  The  company  soon  began  to  feel  the  impulse 
of  his  intelligent  and  well-directed  efforts.  Analyzing  its 
history  and  condition,  he  brought  out  prominently  its 
strongest  features,  and  supplied  for  years  the  most  effec- 
tive portion  of  the  company's  literature. 

In  1869,  he  was  chairman  of  a  committee  which  went 
to  Springfield  to  prevent  legislation  inimical  to  the  inter- 
ests of  life  insurance;  and  so  convincing  and  persuasive 
were  his  arguments  that  the  proposed  measure  was  quickly 
abandoned  by  those  who  had  introduced  it. 

The  patience  of  Mr.  Wells  was  severely  taxed,  and  his 
position  a  most  trying  one,  during  the  four  years  that 
followed  the  failure  of  the  Charter-Oak,  in  1876.  Months 
before  the  public  had  knowledge  of  the  losses  which  im- 
periled the  solvency  of  the  company,  Mr.  Wells  had  dis- 
cerned enough  to  greatly  excite  his  fears,  and  lead  him  to 
energetic  efforts  to  avert  disaster.  He  did  not  hesitate 
to  emphasize  vigorously  the  opinion  that  there  should  be 
a  reform  in  the  methods  of  the  company  and  changes  in 
the  official  force.  His  letters  to  the  company  at  this  time 
showed  his  entire  fearlessness,  and  the  spirit  shown  by 
him  was  of  the  heroic  type.  He  wished  to  be  loyal  to 
his  clients  and  to  the  company,  and  above  all,  loyal  to  the 
right;  and  he  labored  indefatigably  in  all  practical  ways 
to  protect  the  interests  of  those  who  had  confided  in  him. 
It  was  not  till  1880  that  he  was  able  to  retire  from  this 
connection  which  had  become  so  distasteful,  and  engage 
as  manager  of  the  Provident  of  New  York.  He  became 
connected  with  the  ^Etna  Life  Insurance  Company  in 
1883,  and  retained  the  position  till  the  time  of  his  death. 

The  manner  in  which  he  applied  himself  to  his  new  line 


48  WILLIAM    HARVEY    WELLS. 

of  duty,  on  resigning  his  position  in  the  educational  field 
of  labor,  may  be  inferred  from  the  following  recital  of  his 
views  three  years  after  the  change.  It  is  an  extract  from 
his  private  journal,  under  date  of  September,  1867: 

"WAYSIDE    REFLECTIONS. 
Fifty-five,  and  life  as  rushing  as  ever. 

"Three  years  of  business  life  just  completed.  Educa- 
tion, and  the  whole  course  of  educational  life  and  thought 
for  the  previous  thirty-three  years,  though  crystalized  and 
fixed,  as  a  daily,  yearly,  half  life- long,  and  almost  exclu- 
sive mode  of  existence,  so  completely  supplanted,  eradi- 
cated, lost,  that  school-life  almost  never  comes  spontane- 
ously to  mind. 

"  Such  is  the  remarkable  provision  of  our  nature.  Even 
deep-rooted,  fast-rooted,  indurated,  fossilized  habit  has 
yielded  as  if  it  were  only  a  sand  impression  to  the  resist- 
less power  of  a  new-born  will-force;  a  settled  determina- 
tion to  succeed  in  business  life;  a  purpose  that  has  known 
no  misgiving;  to  form  business  habits  and  prove  to  myself 
and  my  friends  that  even  at  fifty-two  a  man  may  change 
the  whole  current  of  life  without  impairing  or  rendering 
less  effective  its  motive  force. 

"  Hardly  had  I  entered  the  new  field  when  it  became 
enchanted  ground.  All -engrossing  cares,  and  a  rapidly- 
growing  love  for  thoughts  and  labor  and  plans,  which  were 
at  first  so  strange  and  unnatural,  and  unhandy  and  toil- 
some, soon  made  it  painful  to  leave  my  new  work,  and 
pleasurable  to  return  to  it;  and  now  my  discipline  is  rather 
to  draw  myself  away  from  a  too  strong  attachment  to 
business,  than  to  educate  myself  to  enjoy  it. 

"And  so  I  am  now  fairly  at  sea  in  an  entirely  new 
vessel,  rushing  on  as  earnestly,  as  anxiously,  as  laboriously 
as  in  the  old  craft.  This  voyage  I  hope  to  secure  a  home 
for  myself  and  family,  without  forgetting  that  my  expect- 
ancy of  life  is  considerably  less  than  twenty  years,  and 
that  I  shall  soon  need  another  and  more  permanent  home,, 
a  house  not  made  with  hands. 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH.  49 

"And  how  about  that  other  home?  Does  it  seem 
nearer  than  it  did  ten  years  ago  ?  and  does  it  seem  more 
sure  ?  I  would  fain  hope  and  believe  that  it  does.  I 
would  fain  hope  that  I  am  making  some  progress  in  grace; 
that  I  have  increasing  evidence  of  my  acceptance  with 
God;  that  I  have  a  stronger  and  stronger  desire  for  the 
salvation  of  my  children;  and  that  I  have  juster  views  of 
the  value  of  temporal  blessings,  and  their  relation  to  the 
great  end  of  all  human  existence.  Full  of  sin,  I  yet  hope 
that  I  have  a  growing  desire  to  be  free  from  it,  and  that 
my  thoughts  turn  more  and  more  naturally  to  the  spiritual 
and  eternal  interests  of  my  family." 

As  much  as  ten  years  before  the  actual  close  of  his 
life,  Mr.  Wells  realized  that  the  hand  of  death  was  upon 
him,  and  that  it  was  only  a  question  of  time  when  he 
would  receive  a  summons  from  the  grim  monster.  He 
then  set  his  house  in  order,  and,  so  far  as  lay  in  his  power, 
arranged  his  affairs  so  that  his  decease  would  find  his 
account  written  up  to  the  last  moment,  and  involve  no- 
tangle.  He  did  a  great  deal  of  work  after  that,  but  it 
was  in  concentrated  form,  applying  himself  to  work  on 
the  English  language — first  for  the  help  of  the  little  ones,, 
and  afterward  for  the  children  of  larger  growth. 

The  value  of  his  knowledge  and  experience  as  an  edu- 
cator was  so  fully  recognized  that,  entirely  without  any 
motion  on  his  part,  he  was  appointed  at  the  close  of  the 
year  1864  to  fill  an  unexpired  term  as  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Education  of  the  City  of  Chicago.  At  the 
expiration  of  the  term  the  position  was  again  tendered 
to  him,  but  peremptorily  declined.  He,  however,  accepted 
the  place  when  it  was  again  offered  to  him,  and  served 
through  the  years  1872-4,  being  president  of  the  board 
during  the  last  of  those  years.  He  was  again  named  for 
reappointment,  but  refused  the  honor.  He  felt  himself 
obliged  to  withdraw  from  an  office  in  which  he  was  con- 
tinually charged  with  the  most  onerous  duties;  he  being; 


50  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

placed  on  the  chairmanship  of  all  the  most  important 
committees  during  the  whole  time  of  his  service. 

During  his  term  of  office  as  superintendent,  Mr.  Wells 
compiled  a  history  of  the  public-schools  in  Chicago,  which 
was  so  accurate  and  comprehensive  that  succeeding  writers 
have  found  themselves  unable  to  improve  upon  it,  except 
by  adding  to  the  account  where  he  ceased  to  write  it- 
The  sketch  was  printed  in  the  "  Report  of  the  Board  of 
Education  for  the  year  1857;"  and  its  leading  facts  were 
subsequently  incorporated  into  the  histories  of  Chicago. 

Mr.  Wells  was  one  of  the  leading  spirits  in  the  move- 
ment to  establish  a  free  public  library  in  Chicago  immedi- 
ately after  the  great  fire  of  1871,  and  the  gentlemen  who 
formed  the  first  board  of  directors  largely  availed  them- 
selves of  his  knowledge  in  the  formulation  of  rules  for  its 
government  and  in  the  selection  of  its  first  officers.  But 
it  was  not  until  the  year  1882  that  his  peculiar  fitness  for 
the  position  was  recognized  by  an  invitation  to  take  a 
place  on  the  board  of  directors  of  the  library.  He 
accepted  the  offer,  and  held  the  place  until  the  time  of 
his  death.  During  the  whole  term  he  was  one  of  the 
most  active  of  the  members  of  the  board,  and  never 
absent  from  its  meetings  until  a  short  time  previous  to 
his  decease. 


The  following  address  was  delivered  by  Mr.  Wells,  July 
4,  1883,  at  Westfield,  Mass.,  to  the  alumni  of  the  Westfield 
State  Normal  School: 

When  Addison  wrote  his  essays  for  the  "Spectator,"  he 
prefixed  to  each  of  them  a  motto  selected  from  some 
previous  author.  If  I  were  to  select  a  motto  by  way  of 
introduction  on  this  occasion,  it  would  be  from  England's 
somber  poet  of  the  last  century, — 

"I've  been  so  long  remembered,  I'm  forgot." 
And  yet,  if  there  are  any  two  words  that  come  to  me 
today  with  greater  force  and  beauty  than  any  others,  they 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  5  I 

are,  /  remember.  There  are  times  when  I  love  to  wander 
back  to  childhood's  hours  and  live  over  again  those  early 
days  when  the  discipline  of  life  had  not  taught  me  the 
lessons  of  commingled  joy  and  sorrow  that  I  have  since 
learned.  There  are  times  when,  starting  from  those  bright 
and  halcyon  days,  I  love  to  roam  along  the  pathway  of 
life,  culling  only  the  choicest  fruits  and  flowers,  and  bind- 
ing them  in  one  rich  garland  of  delighted  existence.  / 
remember;  I  remember.  Dear,  sweet  memory.  Precious 
gift  of  heaven,  that  mocks  at  three  score  years  and  ten, 
and  enables  us  to  live,  over  and  over,  the  selectest  portions 
of  our  existence  here,  till  the  measure  of  a  single  life 
extends  far  beyond  the  normal  allotment  of  patriarchal 
times.  Southey's  memory  is  said  to  have  extended  back 
to  his  third  year;  and  I  could  name  another  whose  mem- 
ory at  that  age  is  distinct  and  clear.  And  is  there  nothing 
in  our  lives  that  reaches  still  farther  back  ?  In  solving 
this  problem,  we  do  not  need  to  call  in  the  aid  of  the 
Chaldeans,  and  Egyptians,  and  Greeks,  and  Romans;  of 
Plato,  and  Pythagoras,  and  Cicero,  who  found  traces  of 
memory  reaching  far  back  into  a  prior  state  of  existence. 
Nor  do  we  need  to  recall  those  charmed  moments  in  our 
own  lives  when  we  catch  glimpses  of  events  that  occurred 
in  some  far-ofT,  ante-natal  time,  so  distinct  and  real  that 
even  the  voice  of  reason  can  not  drive  them  away. 

Call  not  the  present  that  mysterious  line  which  divides 
the  past  from  the  future.  Call  it  rather  a  garden  in  which 
the  sweetest  flowers  of  past  lives  may  be  seen  and  enjoyed 
at  will, — a  garden  in  which  we  may  bask  in  the  joys  and 
pjeasures  of  an  imaginary  life  that  is  yet  to  come.  Nay, 
more.  Say  not  that  death  is  the  end  of  life  on  earth. 
The  great  and  the  good  of  all  ages  are  living  still  in  the 
lives  of  those  who  have  drank  in  their  spirit,  and  assimi- 
lated the  vital  elements  of  their  existence.  They  greatly 
live,  and  will  not  cease  to  live  in  the  lives  of  others,  till 
time  shall  be  no  longer.  This  is  the  true  and  undisputed 
transmigration  of  souls,  and  here  in  very  deed  our  lives 


52  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

extend  back  far  beyond  the  natal  hour.  In  early  life  we 
live  largely  in  the  future.  Later  in  life  we  live  more  in 
the  past.  I  am  sure  I  shall  be  pardoned  if  I  say  I  am  in 
a  retrospective  mood  today.  I  remember,  away  back  in  the 
reign  of  Andrew  Jackson,  when  Emerson  Davis  was  teach- 
ing the  Westfield  Academy,  and  you  were  all  wrapped  in 
the  shades  of  a  preexistent  state,  the  son  of  a  Connecticut 
farmer,  something  more  than  boy  and  something  less  than 
man,  commenced  his  educational  life  by  teaching  a  district 
school,  at  ten  dollars  a  month,  and  "  boarding  'round." 
He  then  looked  forward  with  hopes  and  aspirations  into 
a  dark,  uncertain  future.  Today  he  looks  back  through  a 
period  that  records  almost  the  entire  history  of  educational 
progress  in  this  country.  Of  all  his  coevals  in  the  educa- 
tional field  I  can  now  call  to  mind  but  two  or  three  who 
still  survive. 

The  pages  of  history  are  a  rich  inheritance,  and  the 
history  of  educational .  progress  in  the  United  States  is  a 
volume  of  which  no  teacher  can  afford  to  be  in  ignorance. 
I  have  thought  it  not  inappropriate  on  this  occasion  that 
we  should  devote  a  portion  of  the  time  to  a  rapid  review 
of  the  progress  of  education,  and  the  establishment  of 
normal  schools.  There  are  no  richer  or  more  enduring 
lessons  of  instruction  and  wisdom  than  the  lessons  of  ex- 
ample, and  if  I  can  act  as  a  medium  of  communication 
between  my  audience  and  the  early  apostles  of  education 
in  this  country,  whose  minds  and  hearts  were  all  aglow 
with  the  spirit  of  improvement,  our  time  will  not  be  lost. 
It  is  not  many  months  since  I  had  occasion  to  speak  of 
the  history  of  education  before  a  body  of  teachers  in  a 
distant  State,  and  as  I  found  myself  carried  directly  back 
to  my  early  New-England  home,  I  felt  for  the  time  that 
I  was  a  stranger  in  a  strange  land.  In  reviewing  a  portion 
of  the  same  events  today,  I  feel  that  "my  foot  is  on  my 
native  heath,  and  my  name  is  MacGregor."  Dr.  Franklin 
once  expressed  a  regret  that  he  was  not  born  a  century 
later.  My  own  educational  birth  was  in  the  midst  of  a 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  53 

great  educational  revival,  and  I  would  not  change  the  time. 

In  1816,  Dennison  Olmstead,  while  a  tutor  in  Yale  Col- 
lege, delivered  an  oration  on  the  state  of  education  in 
Connecticut,  in  which  he  spoke  particularly  of  the  defects 
in  school  education  and  said  the  only  remedy  was  a  semi- 
nary for  teachers. 

In  1823,  William  Russell,  then  of  New  Haven,  Conn., 
wrote  a  pamphlet  entitled  "Suggestions  on  Education,"  in 
which  he  advocated  the  establishment  of  a  school  for  the 
training  of  teachers.  In  urging  the  importance  of  such 
an  institution,  Mr.  Russell  used  this  strong  language: 
"The  common  schools  for  children  are,  in  not  a  few  in- 
stances, conducted  by  individuals  who  do  not  possess  one 
of  the  qualifications  of  an  instructor;  and,  in  very  many 
cases,  there  is  barely  knowledge  enough  to  keep  the 
teacher  at  a  decent  distance  from  his  scholars."  In  the 
same  year,  1823,  the  Rev.  S.  R.  Hall  opened  a  school  at 
Concord,  Vt.,  with  a  department  for  the  special  training  of 
teachers.  Two  years  later  we  come  to  the  year  of  years 
in  the  history  of  normal  schools — the  year  1825.  In  that 
year,  simultaneous,  and  yet  independent,  educational  move- 
ments were  made  in  four  different  States.  Thomas  H. 
Gallaudet  of  Hartford,  Conn.,  published  several  articles 
on  the  importance  of  establishing  seminaries  for  teachers; 
James  G.  Carter  of  Massachusetts,  wrote  similar  articles 
in  a  Boston  paper;  and  Walter  R.  Johnson  of  Pennsylva- 
nia, issued  a  pamphlet  on  the  same  subject,  all  in  1825; 
and  in  the  same  year,  Gov.  Clinton  of  New  York  recom- 
mended to  the  legislature  of  his  State  that  some  measures 
should  be  taken  to  provide  for  the  education  of  teachers. 
This  was  a  memorable  epoch  in  the  history  of  education 
in  this  country;  but  times  were  ripe  for  it.  Carter  had 
commenced  his  special  efforts  in  this  direction  the  previous 
year,  and  the  friends  of  education  everywhere  felt  that  a 
better  class  of  teachers  was  imperatively  demanded. 

From  this  time  forward,  the  current  of  feeling  on  this 
subject  gained  strength  and  courage  and  hope.  Russell's 


54  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

American  Journal  of  Education,  published  in  Boston,  did 
good  service  in  the  interest  of  normal  schools,  and  the 
efforts  of  educators  were  seconded  and  sustained  by  the 
"North -American  Review,"  and  by  other  public  journals. 
In  1827,  the  heart  of  Carter  waxed  bold,  and  he  ventured 
to  present  a  special  memorial  to  the  legislature  of  the 
State,  asking  that  provision  should  be  made  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  normal  school.  At  this  distance  of  time, 
fifty-six  years,  we  can  realize  very  little  of  the  anxiety 
and  suspense  that  hung  upon  that  experiment.  William 
B.  Calhoun  of  Springfield,  one  of  the  strongest  men  in 
the  senate,  and  a  true  friend  of  the  measure,  was  chairman 
of  the  committee  on  education,  and  his  committee  reported 
in  favor  of  the  bill.  Hope  at  once  rose  above  fear,  and 
the  old  Bay  State  seemed  on  the  eve  of  inaugurating  a 
glorious  movement  in  the  interest  of  educational  progress. 
The  struggle  was  warm  and  close, — ignorance  and  preju- 
dice face  to  face  with  intelligence  and  educational  reform. 
The  measure  was  lost  by  a  single  vote,  and  time  rolled 
back  on  itself  ten  years.  Carter,  disappointed  and  sad, 
now  turned  to  the  town  of  Lancaster,  and  secured  an 
appropriation  to  aid  him  in  the  establishment  of  a  seminary 
for  teachers  at  that  place.  But  public  sentiment  was  not 
sufficiently  advanced  to  sustain  the  enterprise.  Opposition 
aros^,  and  the  support  of  the  town  was  withdrawn.  He 
then  invested  most  of  his  own  means  in  the  institution, 
and  continued  it  as  a  private  seminary;  but  his  labors 
were  not  appreciated,  and  the  school  languished  and  died. 
But  though  baffled  in  nearly  every  effort  he  made  for  the 
improvement  of  teachers,  his  courage  and  hope  still  re- 
mained firm  as  ever.  Hall  continued  his  labors  at  Con- 
cord, Vt.,  and  gave  several  courses  of  lectures  that  were 
published  in  1829,  in  a  volume  entitled  "Lectures  on 
School-Keeping." 

The  American  Institute  of  Instruction,  organized  in 
1830,  was  an  embodiment  of  the  best  educational  talent 
of  the  country,  and  one  of  its  leading  objects  was  the 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  55 

improvement  of  teachers.  The  roll  of  its  members  is  a 
roll  of  honor.  There  were  assembled  James  G.  Carter, 
Francis  Wayland,  S.  R.  Hall,  George  B.  Emerson,  Win.  B. 
Calhoun,  Warren  Colburn,  Gideon  F.  Thayer,  Henry  K. 
Oliver,  Ebenezer  Bailey,  Lowell  Mason,  Wm.  Russell,  Wm. 
C.  Woodbridge,  Walter  R.  Johnson,  Caleb  Cushing,  Wm. 
A.  Alcott,  John  Kingsbury,  Benjamin  Greenleaf,  Jacob 
Abbott,  and  more  than  300  others.  The  half-suppressed 
yearnings  of  previous  years  there  found  free  expression  in 
a  meeting  full  of  hope  and  promise,  and  in  the  establish- 
ment of  an  institute  which  has  continued  its  annual  meet- 
ings for  more  than  half  a  century,  till  its  volumes  of 
lectures  form  of  themselves  a  valuable  educational  library. 
In  1830,  the  American  Journal  of  Education  was  merged 
in  the  Annals  of  Education,  in  charge  of  Wm.  C.  Wood- 
bridge,  as  firm  a  friend  of  normal  schools  as  Russell  had 
been  before  him.  It  was  -in  1850,  also,  that  Mr.  Hall 
organized  the  seminary  for  teachers  at  Andover.  When 
I  commenced  my  labors  as  a  teacher,  in  1831,  Hall's 
"Lectures  on  School-Keeping"  was  the  only  educational 
work  that  I  could  obtain,  and  I  had  to  send  from  Con- 
necticut to  Boston  to  obtain  a  copy  of  it.  As  I  looked 
out  from  my  little  district-school,  and  conversed  with 
other  teachers,  and  sought  for  light  and  aid,  there  came 
back  to  me  the  names  of  Russell,  and  Gallaodet,  and 
Carter,  and  Hall,  and  Woodbridge,  and  Johnson.  I  love 
to  think  of  these  pioneer  reformers,  as  their  names  were 
borne  on  every  educational  wave  when  first  I  opened  my 
eyes  upon  the  educational  world,  and  drank  in  my  first 
educational  inspirations.  Attracted  by  the  reputation  of 
the  Andover  Seminary  for  Teachers,  I  went  from  Con- 
necticut to  Andover,  to  become  a  pupil  under  Mr.  Hall,  in 
1834,  and  was  afterward  associated  with  him  as  a  teacher 
in  the  same  institution.  Friend  of  teachers,  and  leader 
in  the  work  of  organizing  schools  for  teachers.  Not 
exactly  great,  as  the  world  counts  greatness,  but  always 
good,  and  doing  good.  His  name  deeply  engraven  in  the- 


56  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

records  of  educational  improvement  for  more  than  a  gen- 
eration. 

I  remember.  I  remember  an  experience  in  1834  that 
has  been  to  me  an  inspiration  through  all  my  life.  In 
that  year  I  had  the  privilege  of  attending  the  meetings  of 
the  American  Institute  of  Instruction,  in  Boston,  which 
opened  to  me  a  new  world.  I  was  lifted  out  of  myself 
and  brought  into  communion  with  the  very  men  whose 
names  I  had  so  often  heard,  and  whom  in  my  young  and 
unchecked  imagination  I  had  reverenced  as  a  superior 
order  of  beings.  William  B.  Calhoun  of  Springfield,  was 
president  of  the  Institute,  but  not  able  to  be  present,  and 
James  G.  Carter  was  in  the  chair.  Forty-nine  years  have 
since  passed  away,  and  yet  such  was  my  interest  in  those 
meetings  that  they  still  stand  out  before  me  with  all  the 
freshness  of  a  present  reality.  I  remember  the  words  of 
wisdom  that  fell  from  the  lips  of  the  educators  there 
assembled,  and  I  remember  the  very  faces  and  gestures 
of  those  who  took  part  in  the  proceedings.  I  remember 
the  plea  of  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher  of  Cincinnati,  for  teachers 
to  be  sent  to  the  West;  and  when  it  was  said  that  New 
England  had  no  good  teachers  to  spare,  I  well  remember 
the  more  than  ministerial  somersault  which  he  made  as  he 
replied,  "I  would  that  I  could  turn  New  England  bottom 
up,  and  empty  every  teacher  out  into  the  West.  It  would 
rouse  you  to  new  efforts,  and  you  would  soon  train  up 
others  still  better  to  take  their  places." 

I  remember  the  gallantry  of  Gideon  F.  Thayer,  and  the 
very  bend  of  his  body  and  of  his  arm,  as  he  gave  his  arm 
to  the  ladies  who  entered  the  door  of  the  hall,  and  escorted 
them  to  seats  (we  seldom  do  this  now).  But  I  remember 
quite  too  much  for  an  occasion  like  this,  and  I  ask  pardon 
for  dwelling  so  long  upon  the  incidents  of  this  meeting. 
Time  passed  on;  but  the  cause  of  normal  instruction  did 
not  slumber.  In  1837,  Just  ten  years  after  Carter  had 
asked  the  legislature  of  the  State  for  aid,  and  been  denied, 
the  American  Institute  of  Instruction  presented  a  similar 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  57 

memorial,  urging  the  importance  of  an  appropriation  for 
the  advancement  of  education  in  the  State.  And  now  the 
times  had  changed.  Carter,  no  longer  a  suppliant  at  the 
door  of  the  legislature,  was  himself  a  member  of  that 
body,  and  chairman  of  the  committee  on  education.  Gov. 
Everett  gave  to  the  measure  his  support,  and  it  was  car- 
ried through  successfully.  The  State  Board  of  Education 
was  established  and  Horace  Mann  was  made  its  secretary. 
Carter  was  no  longer  a  visionary  schemer  and  advocate  of 
impracticable  theories,  but  the  successful  champion  of  a 
noble  cause  that  had  the  confidence  and  support  of  men 
in  high  places.  Private  enterprise  and  well-directed  phi- 
lanthropy now  came  cheerfully  forward  to  aid  the  State 
in  the  undertaking  for  which  the  friends  of  education  had 
so  long  waited — the  establishment  of  a  normal  school. 
Edmund  Dwight  of  Boston,  name  ever  memorable  in  the 
history  of  good  works,  made  a  donation  of  $10,000,  to  be 
expended  in  qualifying  teachers,  on  condition  that  the 
legislature  would  grant  a  similar  sum  for  the  same  pur- 
pose. The  grant  was  made,  and  normal  schools  were  soon 
organized;  at  Lexington,  now  Framingham,  in  July,  1839; 
at  Barre,  now  Westfield,  in  September,  1839;  and  at 
Bridgewater  in  1840. 

This  successful  establishment  of  normal  schools,  the 
first  in  the  country,  marks  another  important  era  in  the 
history  of  education.  Intelligence  and  philanthropy  had 
gained  a  signal  triumph  over  ignorance  and  prejudice. 
Fourteen  years  of  earnest,  persistent,  anxious  labor,  in  the 
face  of  obstacles  that  seemed  almost  insurmountable,  from 
the  great  revival  in  1825  to  1839,  now  brought  forth  fruit 
that  sent  gladness  and  fresh  hope  and  strength  to  the 
friends  of  education  in  every  State  of  the  Union. 

Those  of  you  who  have  visited  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  in 
London,  and  asked  for  the  monument  of  the  architect, 
Sir  Christopher  Wren,  have  found  the  answer  there  in- 
scribed, "Reader,  look  around  you."  The  great  pioneer 
laborers  in  the  interests  of  normal  schools  have  nearly  all 
5 


58  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

passed  away.  Does  any  one  ask  if  they  still  live;  my 
answer  is,  Look  around  you  here  today.  If  the  Westfield 
Normal  School  was  not  the  first  normal  child  of  the  State, 
she  was  the  second,  and  only  two  months  younger  than 
her  Framingham  sister.  If  to  the  Roman  all  roads  lead 
to  Rome,  to  us,  I  am  sure,  all  roads  today  lead  to  our 
dear  Westfield  Normal  School.  Her  forty-four  years  of 
history  are  recorded  in  the  character  and  lives  of  more 
than  a  generation  of  children  and  youth  all  over  these 
central  and  western  counties  of  the  State,  that  have  grown 
up  to  manhood  and  womanhood  under  the  influences  that 
have  emanated  from  the  halls  of  this  institution.  It  is 
meet  that  we  should  pause  today  and  recall  some  of  the 
incidents  connected  with  the  early  life  of  this  child  of 
hope  and  love.  The  name  that  first  suggests  itself  as 
closely  identified  with  the  history  of  the  school  is  that 
of  the  Hon.  William  G.  Bates,  Westfield's  own  honored 
citizen,  and  one  of  the  early  members  of  the  State  Board 
of  Education.  His  manly  form  is  still  fresh  in  the  mem- 
ory of  a  large  portion  of  this  audience.  He  was  deeply 
interested  in  the  establishment  of  the  present  school  sys- 
tem of  the  State. 

At  the  opening  of  the  Bridgewater  Normal  School,  Mr. 
Bates  gave  the  address,  which  was  published  in  the  "Com- 
mon-School Journal."  Let  me  quote  a  single  passage 
from  that  address :  "  The  pupils  who  shall  carry  from 
these  walls  those  principles  which  enlightened  wisdom  can 
alone  impart,  are  to  enter,  year  by  year,  those  ten  thous- 
and seminaries  in  which,  day  by  day,  are  formed  the 
hearts  of  the  arbiters  of  this  nation's  destiny.  They  are 
to  transfuse  those  principles  into  other  minds.  They  are 
to  multiply  and  extend  those  streams  of  improvement, 
which,  proceeding  from  this  fountain,  are  destined  to  in- 
crease as  they  roll,  and  to  fertilize  as  they  flow." 

Mr.  Bates  was  the  one  to  whom,  more  than  to  any 
other,  if  not  more  than  to  all  others,  Westfield  is  indebted 
for  her  normal  school.  When  subscriptions  were  made 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  59 

to  secure  the  location  of  the  school  here,  the  largest  sums 
stood  against  the  names  of  William  G.  Bates  and  Emer- 
son Davis.  When  the  time  came  for  deciding  the  place, 
Mr.  Bates  received  a  message  from  Boston,  saying  the 
probabilities  were  that  Westfield  would  not  be  chosen. 
Mr.  Bates  received  this  message  in  court,  at  the  close  of 
an  exhausting  day  of  labor,  and  the  next  morning  found 
him  in  Boston;  and  Westfield  gained  the  normal  school. 
The  second  great  effort  was  to  secure  a  building;  and  here 
again,  not  only  Mr.  Bates,  but  Mrs.  Bates  also,  engaged 
heartily  in  the  undertaking,  and  their  open  house  was 
headquarters  for  all  the  friends  of  education  who  were 
interested  in  the  establishment  of  the  school.  At  a  later 
period,  when  Mr.  Bates  was  a  member  of  the  State  legis- 
lature, a  young  aspirant  for  notoriety  indulged  in  some 
flippant  remarks  against  normal  schools,  and  was  rebuked 
by  Mr.  Bates  with  such  wrell-directed  argument  and  ridi- 
cule that  he  retreated  into  the  obscurity  for  which  he  was 
best  fitted.  All  honor  to  the  name  of  William  G.  Bates. 

I  pass  now  to  the  name  of  Emerson  Davis,  a  worthy 
compeer  of  Mr.  Bates,  and  one  of  the  original  members 
of  the  State  Board  of  Education.  I  remember,  in  183 1» 
when  I  was  teaching  my  little  district- school,  and  Mr. 
Davis  was  principal  of  the  Westfield  Academy,  I  learned 
that  outline  maps  had  been  prepared  on  cloth  at  his 
academy,  for  use  in  teaching  geography,  and  I  sent  tcx 
Westfield  and  procured  a  set  of  them,  and  I  remember 
the  interest  they  excited  among  the  teachers  of  the  town,, 
and  of  the  surrounding  towns.  I  wish  I  had  them  here 
to  exhibit.  Mr.  Davis  was  born  to  lead,  and  he  was  at 
progressive  educator  from  the  first.  In  1833,  just  fifty 
years  ago,  he  published  "The  Teacher's  Manual,"  which 
is  the  only  American  manual  I  can  remember  of  so  early 
a  date,  except  Hall's  "Lectures  on  School-Keeping."  In 
1839,  the  year  in  which  this  normal  school  was  first  opened 
at  Barre,  he  published  "The  Teacher  Taught,"  of  which  I 
hold  a  copy  in  my  hand.  Let  me  read  a  single  passage 


60  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

from  this  work;  not  the  best,  but  one  that  may  aid  in 
relieving  the  tediousness  of  a  prosy  address.  He  is  speak- 
ing of  the  importance  of  writing  a  plain  and  legible  hand, 
and  illustrates  it  as  follows:  "A  clergyman  in  Massachu- 
setts, more  than  a  century  ago,  addressed  a  letter  to  the 
general  court  on  some  subject  of  interest  that  was  under 
discussion.  The  clerk  read  the  letter,  in  which  was  this 
remarkable  sentence:  'I  address  you  not  as  magistrates, 
but  as  Indian  devils.'  The  clerk  hesitated,  and  looked 
carefully,  and  said,  'Yes,  he  addressed  you  as  Indian 
devils.'  The  wrath  of  the  honorable  body  was  aroused, 
they  passed  a  vote  of  censure,  and  wrote  to  the  reverend 
gentleman  for  an  explanation;  from  which  it  appeared 
that  he  did  not  address  them  as  magistrates,  but  as  indi- 
viduals." When  the  school  was  reopened  at  this  place,  in 
1844,  Mr.  Davis  consented  to  take  temporary  charge  of  it, 
and  became  its  principal. 

Applicants  for  both  the  academy  and  the  normal  school 
assembled  in  the  academy  and  had  devotional  exercises 
together.  Then  pupils  of  the  academy  withdrew,  leaving 
forty-nine  applicants  for  admission  to  the  normal  school. 
Pr.  Davis  and  Mr.  Clough,  his  assistant,  proceeded  with 
the  examination,  and  all  were  admitted.  In  1847,  Har- 
vard College  did  honor  to  Mr.  Davis  and  herself,  by  con- 
ferring on  him  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity.  In 
1852,  Dr.  Davis  published  "The  Half-Century,"  a  valuable 
work  of  great  research.  He  also  published  a  sketch  of 
Westfield,  besides  a  large  number  of  sermons,  addresses, 
essays,  etc.,  and  left  five  MS.  volumes  of  biographies  of 
Congregational  clergymen,  which  are  now  in  the  Congre- 
gational library  in  Boston.  His  faithful  and  successful 
labors  as  a  pastor  are  well  remembered,  and  his  fame  is 
in  all  the  churches. 

In  1846,  thirty-seven  years  ago,  the  normal-school 
building  was  dedicated,  and  an  able  and  appropriate 
address  was  delivered  on  that  occasion  by  Dr.  Heman 
Humphrey,  a  member  of  the  State  Board  of  Education. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  6l 

Dr.  Davis  was  succeeded  by  David  S.  Rowe,  as  principal 
of  the  school,  of  whom  I  have  the  pleasantest  memories. 
As  an  able  and  faithful  instructor,  he  needs  no  encomium 
from  me.  He  was  also  a  godly  man,  and  I  well  remember 
the  sweet  savor  of  his  Christian  influence,  which  was  every- 
where felt,  as  I  entered  upon  my  duties  here  in  1854. 
There  was  nothing  of  a  sectarian  spirit,  for  all  religious 
sects  were  represented  in  the  school,  but  an  ever-present 
recognition  of  dependence  upon  Him  who  "  teacheth  as 
never  man  taught." 

I  remember  well  the  anniversary  meeting  of  that  year, 
and  the  welcome  we  received  from  your  respected  towns- 
man, Mr.  Gillett,  who  made  one  of  the  handsomest  and 
most  enjoyable  little  speeches  I  ever  heard. 

Mr.  Rowe's  favorite  motto,  How  ?  When  ?  Why  ?  was 
left  as  a  legacy  to  the  school;  and  I  had  observed  that 
Father  Pierce,  of  the  West  Newton  Normal  School,  always 
closed  the  day  with  the  words,  "Live  to  the  truth."  In 
looking  for  a  motto  \vhich  my  own  pupils  might  also  carry 
with  them  as  a  memento  when  they  left  the  institution,  I 
turned  to  the  best  of  authors  and  selected  the  two  words, 
Doing  good.  I  have  never  had  occasion  to  regret  the 
choice. 

/  remember.  But  in  my  long  educational  life  there  are 
no  two  years  that  I  remember  with  more  satisfaction  than 
the  two  Ispent  in  this  institution.  I  was  peculiarly  for- 
tunate in  having  for  my  associate  one  of  the  best  educa- 
tors in  the  State,  who  is  now  the  honored  secretary  of  the 
State  Board  of  Education.  I  remember  when  I  was  about 
to  assume  the  charge  of  the  school,  1  was  invited,  with 
Dr.  Sears,  to  dine  at  the  attractive  home  of  George  B. 
Emerson  of  Boston,  one  of  the  prominent  members  of  the 
board;  and  I  remember  with  much  interest  our  after- 
dinner  consultation  on  the  interests  of  the  school,  and 
particularly  on  the  question  whether  it  was  best  to  con- 
tinue the  practice  of  admitting  both  sexes,  or  to  limit  the 
admissions  to  one  sex.  When  at  last  I  was  left  free  to 


62  WILLIAM   HARVEY   WELLS. 

choose  between  the  two  plans,  I  said  by  all  means  give 
me  both  sexes;  and  whatever  may  be  the  experience  of 
others,  in  my  own  experience  I  found  the  mutual  influence 
of  the  two  sexes  always  salutary.  A  better  class  of  stu- 
dents, or  students  that  manifested  a  more  earnest  and 
determined  purpose  to  accomplish  the  greatest  possible 
amount  of  good  in  the  world,  I  have  never  seen. 

I  well  remember  the  present  principal  of  the  school, 
both  as  student  and  as  assistant  instructor,  and  I  remem- 
ber that  he  always  estimated  himself  at  just  about  half 
of  his  real  worth;  and  I  remember  when  I  had  learned 
his  ability  and  strength,  I  urged  him  more  than  once,  or 
twice,  or  thrice,  to  cultivate  self-confidence,  and  feel  that 
he  had  an  important  work  to  accomplish  in  the  field  of 
education.  His  record  tells  the  rest. 

As  I  turn  from  this  institution,  I  would  like  to  dwell 
upon  the  lives  and  labors  of  other  distinguished  educators 
who  have  been  closely  identified  with  the  history  of  nor- 
mal schools  and  with  the  progress  of  education;  but  time 
will  not  permit.  I  will  barely  allude  to  a  few  of  them. 
[The  orator  at  this  point  paid  brief,  glowing  tributes  to 
the  work  and  worth  of  Horace  Mann,  Geo.  B.  Emerson, 
Henry  Barnard,  David  P.  Page,  Henry  K.  Oliver,  Emma 
Willard,  Miss  Z.  P.  Grant,  and  John  D.  Philbrick.]  I 
would  like  to  call  to  mind  a  hundred  other  distinguished 
educators  whose  names  adorn  the  records  of  this  and 
other  states ;  but  I  must  not  linger.  As  my  personal 
relations  to  Russell,  and  Hall,  and  Davis,  and  Mann,  and 
Emerson,  and  Page,  and  other  choice  spirits  of  a  genera- 
tion now  passed  away,  come  fresh  before  me  today,  I  feel 
that  I  am  a  better  man  for  the  communion  of  soul  that  I 
was  permitted  to  enjoy  with  them  here,  and  for  the  im- 
pressions which  that  intercourse  made  upon  my  own  mind 
and  heart.  With  such  influences  breathing  upon  me,  as 
ministering  spirits,  you  will  not  think  it  strange  that  the 
impressions  I  seek  to  impart  in  this,  our  brief  hour  to- 
gether, are  those  which  flow  from  studying  the  lives  and 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  63 

characters  of  the  men  and  women  who  have  given  life  and 
character  to  our  educational  institutions.  Well  has  Vic- 
toria's laureate  said: 

"  I  am  a  part  of  all  that  I  have  met." 

I  commenced  this  educational  review  with  the  great 
revival  era  of  1825;  but  we  have  a  prior  educational  his- 
tory commencing  with  the  first  landing  of  the  Virginia 
colonists,  a  record  that  is  without  a  parallel  in  the  history 
of  the  world.  Here  too  are  lessons  of  rich  instruction; 
but,  unfortunately,  no  good  educational  history  of  the 
country  has  yet  been  written.  The  materials  for  such  a 
history  are  scattered  through  many  hundred  educational 
addresses,  and  essays,  and  periodicals,  but  have  never 
been  brought  together  in  a  single  work.  Such  a  history 
is  a  desideratum.  If  time  allowed,  we  might  profitably 
recall  the  contributions  that  were  made  by  members  of 
the  Church  of  England,  under  the  auspices  of  James  I., 
from  1618  to  1623,  to  aid  the  Virginia  colonists  in  "the 
erecting  of  some  churches  and  schools  for  the  education 
of  the  children  of  those  barbarians  and  those  colonists," 
and  in  erecting  a  building  for  a  college. 

We  might  stop  in  1634  at  embryo  New  York,  and  visit 
the  twelve -by -twelve  school-house  of  Adam  Rolandson, 
and  hear  him  call  his  school  together  with  a  tin  horn  that 
could  be  heard  throughout  all  the  settlement.  We  might 
attend  a  public  meeting  in  Boston  in  1635,  at  which  "it 
was  generally  agreed  upon,  that  our  brother  Philemon 
Purpont  shall  be  entreated  to  become  school-master  for 
the  teaching  and  nourtering  of  children,"  with  forty  acres 
of  land  for  an  outfit.  In  1642,  we  might  listen  to  an 
order  of  the  General  Court  of  the  Massachusetts- Bay 
Colony,  enjoining  upon  the  authorities  the  duty  of  seeing 
that  every  child  should  be  educated;  and  in  that  order 
we  might  see  the  bright  promise  of  our  distinction  as  an 
educational  State.  We  might  visit  the  colonies  at  Hart- 
ford, Conn.,  in  1643,  and  witness  the  passing  of  a  law 


64  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

that  "  the  town  shall  pay  for  the  schooling  of  the  poor, 
and  for  all  deficiences;"  and  in  that  law  see  the  germ  of 
our  present  free-school  system.     We  might  examine  the 
Horn-book,  the  primer,  and  Dilworth's  "New  Guide  to 
the    English   Tongue,"  which,   with    the  Testament    and 
Psalter,  were  the  text-books  chiefly  used  before  the  Rev- 
olution.    We  might  learn  a  lesson  in  the  art  of  alluring 
children    to   the    paths    of   learning,   from    the    imitation 
Horn-book  of  those  ante-Revolution  times,  in  which  the 
letters  of  the   alphabet  were  made  of  gingerbread   and 
given  to  the  children  as  a  reward  for  learning  their  names; 
and  which  the  poet  Prior  has  described  in  rhyme: 
"  To  Master  John,  the  English  maid 
A  Horn-book  gives  of  gingerbread; 
And,  that  the  child  may  learn  the  better, 
As  he  can  name,  he  eats  the  letter." 

Coming  this  side  of  the  Revolution,  we  might  witness 
the  success  of  Noah  Webster  in  securing  the  introduction 
of  his  elementary  books  into  the  schools,  and  in  crowd- 
ing out  those  of  Dilworth,  Perry,  and  other  English 
authors.  If  we  desired  a  little  relaxation,  we  might  listen 
to  a  little  anecdote  from  Webster's  own  lips,  showing 
how  the  author  of  the  speller  was  put  down  by  an 
irreverent  street-boy.  As  he  relates  the  story,  he  had  a 
brother  residing  in  the  State  of  New  York,  and  made  a 
journey  on  horseback  to  visit  him.  When  he  was  within 
a  short  distance  of  his  brother's  home,  he  inquired  of  a 
boy  on  the  street,  where  Mr.  Webster  lived.  The  boy 
gave  him  the  direction,  and  wanted  to  know  why  he 
asked  him.  "  He  is  my  brother,"  said  Mr.  Webster. 
"Your  brother!"  asked  the  boy,  doubtingly.  "Yes,"  said 
Mr.  Webster,  "He  is  my  brother."  "You  ain't  the  man 
what  made  the  spelling-book,  are  you?"  continued  the 
boy.  "Yes,"  said  Mr.  Webster,  "I  made  the  spelling- 
book."  The  boy  took  another  look  at  him,  and  then 
replied:  "  O,  pshaw;  you  can't  fool  me.  That's  a  fish 
story." 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH.  65 

We  might  learn  a  lesson  in  the  treatment  of  teachers 
from  the  life  of  Master  Tileston  of  Boston,  who  was  usher 
before  the  Revolution,  and  afterward  advanced  to  the 
position  of  master,  an  office  which  he  held  till  1823, 
when,  at  the  age  of  85,  he  was  allowed  a  pension  of  $600 
a  year,  with  the  rank  of  master,  and  without  a  school. 

But  we  have  no  more  time  for  history.  As  we  pause 
for  reflection  upon  the  sketch  I  have  so  imperfectly 
drawn,  the  first  question  that  naturally  presents  itself  is: 
why  did  the  interest  of  the  great  awakening  of  1825 
appear  to  centre  in  the  improvement  of  teachers ;  and 
why  have  the  journals  of  education  and  educational  asso- 
ciations all  brought  their  labors  to  bear  so  directly  upon 
the  same  object  ?  And  the  answer  is,  that  those  who 
laid  the  foundations  of  our  educational  institutions  wisely 
reasoned  that  the  place  to  begin  is  at  the  foundation. 
The  laws  of  intellectual  growth  are  even  now  imperfectly 
understood.  They  underlie  all  great  questions  of  educa- 
tional improvement,  and  yet  how  little  time  do  most 
teachers  devote  to  a  careful  investigation  of  their  nature 
and  relations.  I  do  not  undervalue  the  improvements 
that  have  been  made  in  educational  science.  But  I  can 
not  divest  myself  of  the  feeling  that  there  are  certain 
underlying  principles  relating  to  the  development  of  the 
faculties  and  powers  with  which  we  are  endowed,  that 
have  never  yet  been  fully  reached  and  applied. 

If  we  trace  the  history  of  educational  reforms,  we  shall 
probably  find  that  no  one  is  entitled  to  greater  credit  for 
original  improvements  in  educational  methods  than  John 
Amos  Comenius  of  the  seventeenth  century.  He  was  a 
profound  student  of  nature  and  a  critical  analyst  of  the 
human  mind  ;  and  he  took  nature  for  his  teacher  and 
guide  in  the  reforms  which  he  introduced.  He  was  far 
in  advance  of  his  time,  and  in  many  of  his  teachings  fully 
abreast  with  our  own  time.  The  most  distinguished  re- 
former since  the  time  of  Comenius  is  Pestalozzi;  but  his 
methods  are  largely  based  upon  the  improvements  intro- 


66  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

•duced  by  Comenius,  and  Rousseau,  and  Basedow,  with  a 
large  infusion  of  "  the  enthusiasm  of  humanity." 

The  two  great  objects  of  intellectual  education  are  the 
growth  and  discipline  of  the  mind  and  the  acquisition  of 
knowledge.  The  highest  and  most  important  of  these 
objects  is  mental  growth  and  discipline.  Am  I  wrong  in 
saying  that  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  teachers  agree  to 
this  statement  in  theory,  and  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten 
shape  their  methods  of  instruction  as  if  the  acquisition  of 
knowledge  were  the  greatest  end  to  be  sought  in  school 
life? 

The  price  of  intellectual  growth  is  intellectual  effort. 
No  one  ever  yet  made  intellectual  progress  without  intel- 
lectual labor.  However  much  we  may  regret  that  we  do 
not  live  a  century  later,  because  wre  can  not  have  the 
benefit  of  the  improvements  that  are  to  be  made  during 
the  next  hundred  years,  of  one  thing  we  may  rest  as- 
sured, that  intellectual  eminence  will  be  attained  in  the 
twentieth  century  just  as  it  is  in  the  nineteenth — by  the 
labor  of  the  brain.  We  are  not  to  look  for  any  new  dis- 
covery or  invention  that  shall  supersede  the  necessity  for 
mental  toil;  we  are  not  to  desire  it.  There  are  many 
impediments  in  the  path  of  the  pupil  which  it  is  the  duty 
of  the  teacher  to  remove;  but  the  teacher  who  aids  his 
pupils  in  doing  work  which  they  are  able  to  do  for  them- 
selves, and  adopts  the  theory  that  his  duty  requires  him 
to  make  the  tasks  of  his  pupils  as  easy  as  possible,  wars 
against  the  highest  law  of  intellectual  growth. 

The  records  of  scholarship  that  are  kept  in  schools  are 
almost  always  based  upon  actual  attainment,  which  too 
often  fails  entirely  of  being  a  record  of  intellectual  prog- 
ress. Few  of  us  have  any  just  conception  of  the  latent 
energies  of  our  own  minds.  My  teacher  in  intellectual 
philosophy  at  Andover,  in  1834,  was  F.  A.  Barton,  and  I 
remember  that  he  was  accustomed  to  stimulate  his  class 
to  effort  by  saying  that  he  did  not  believe  our  average 
intellectual  progress  was  more  than  half  as  great  as  we 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  6/ 

were  capable  of  making.  This  may  be  an  extravagant 
statement,  but  I  believe  it  has  done  more  to  rouse  my 
own  mind  to  effort  than  all  the  rest  of  his  teaching 
together. 

Where  shall  we  look  for  a  second  Comenius,  who  will 
rise  above  the  conventionalities  of  the  time  and  work  out 
for  us  an  improved  system  of  instruction,  which  shall 
embody  all  the  real  excellences  of  our  present  systems, 
and  yet  have  for  its  underlying  basis,  and  incorporated 
in  all  its  methods  as  a  paramount  and  vitalizing  aim  and 
object,  the  development  and  growth  of  mind  and  heart? 
Till  such  a  system  shall  be  perfected,  let  our  aim  always 
be  in  that  direction, — growth  of  mind  and  character  first 
and  foremost; — the  acquisition  of  knowledge  essential, 
and  always  included,  but  always  relatively  subordinate. 

Who  can  estimate  the  amazing  responsibility  that  rests 
upon  the  teacher  to  whom  is  intrusted  the  care  and 
moulding  of  a  human  soul  ?  It  is  one  of  the  marvels  of 
this  enlightened  age  that  there  should  anywhere  be  found 
men  of  intelligence  who  still  doubt  the  expediency  of 
sustaining  schools  for  the  special  training  of  teachers. 
There  can  be  no  truer  statement  than  that  of  Sir  William 
Hamilton,  the  prince  of  mental  philosophers,  that  "  In- 
struction is  the  most  difficult  of  arts." 

The  teacher  who  has  a  clear  conception  of  what  con- 
stitutes the  difference  between  the  mind  of  a  Newton  or 
a  Milton  and  the  mind  of  an  ordinary  man  has  risen 
above  the  range  of  common  minds.  The  profession  is 
not  crowded  with  such  teachers.  And  where  can  we 
find  a  teacher  who  is  competent  to  take  the  mind  of  the 
child  Newton  and  so  guide  and  direct  in  its  development 
as  to  lay  the  foundation  for  the  greatness  that  Newton 
attained.  The  teacher  who  can  take  the  mind  of  any 
child  and  so  mould  and  guide  it  that  it  shall  rise  as  high 
in  the  scale  of  being  as  it  is  capable  of  rising,  approaches 
as  near  to  the  creative  power  of  Him  who  made  the  mind 
as  it  is  possible  for  finite  power  ever  to  attain. 


68  WILLIAM    HARVEY    WELLS. 

When  weighed  in  the  perfect  scales  of  heaven,  there 
is  no  higher  or  more  responsible  work  on  earth  than  that 
of  the  teacher ;  and  if  there  is  any  work  that  requires 
special  and  thorough  training  above  all  other  work,  it  is 
that  of  guiding  and  directing  the  minds  of  children  and 
youth. 


The  mortal  remains  of  Mr.  Wells  were  laid  to  rest 
January  24,  1885.  A  short  service  at  the  residence  was 
conducted  by  Rev.  F.  A.  Noble  in  the  presence  of  the 
relatives  and  pall- bearers  only.  The  reading  of  the 
Scriptures  included  the  Twenty-third  Psalm,  with  selec- 
tions from  St.  Paul's  Epistles  to  Timothy  and  the  Corin- 
thians. The  public  services  were  held  at  1 1  o'clock,  in 
the  Union-Park  Congregational  Church,  which  was  wrell 
filled  in  spite  of  the  bitter  weather.  Among  those  pres- 
ent were  the  members  of  the  Board  of  Education,  of  the 
Library  Board,  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  the  Chicago 
Historical  Society,  the  Astronomical  Society,  the  Board 
of  Life -Underwriters,  Directors  of  the  Washingtonian 
Home,  and  members  of  the  Society  for  the  Suppression 
of  Vice,  besides  many  of  his  fellow  church-members  and 
other  personal  friends. 

The  casket  was  of  plain  black  cloth  with  silver  mount- 
ings, and  placed  at  its  head  was  a  pillow  of  flowers,  with 
a  wreath  of  immortelles.  On  a  table  in  front  of  the  altar 
was  a  floral  Bible,  made  of  white  lilies;  one  page  bore 
the  name  "W.  H.  Wells"  and  the  other  the  word  "Finis," 
both  wrought  in  purple  immortelles.  The  pall- bearers 
were  J.  Young  Scammon,  Jacob  Beidler,  Thomas  Dent, 
James  M.  Horton,  A.  A.  Sprague,  George  W.  Hale,  Ira 
J.  Mason,  and  Elias  Colbert. 

The  services  were  opened  with  prayer  by  Rev.  Dr. 
Noble,  after  which  the  choir  sang  "  Nearer,  my  God,  to 
Thee."  Dr.  Noble  then  introduced  Prof.  F.  W.  Fisk,  of 
the  Chicago  Theological  Seminary,  who  had  known  the 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  69 

deceased  from  his  boyhood,  as  the  man  who  could  best 
speak  of  the  earlier  life  of  their  departed  friend.  Prof. 
Fisk  delivered  the  following  address: 

It  is  an  ancient  saying  that  no  man  can  be  pronounced 
happy  till  the  day  of  his  death.  Only  he  who  has  come 
to  the  end  of  life,  with  a  heart  loyal  to  God  and  devoted 
to  the  best  interests  of  his  fellow-men,  can  be  truly  called 
happy.  Only  one  man  has  ever  walked  this  earth  who, 
at  life's  close,  as  he  looked  back  over  it,  could  truly  say 
to  his  Heavenly  Father,  "  I  have  glorified  Thee  on  the 
earth,  having  accomplished  the  work  which  Thou  hast  given 
me  to  do."  Compared  with  this  perfect  life,  the  lives  of 
the  best  of  us  are  sadly  incomplete  and  fragmentary. 
This  no  one  would  be  more  ready  to  acknowledge  in  his 
own  case  than  the  honored  and  dear  friend  whose  loss 
we  mourn  today.  And  yet,  as  we  look  back  upon  his 
life,  through  the  many  years  in  which  some  of  us  have 
known  him,  we  bless  God  that  by  His  grace  bestowed 
upon  him  he  filled  a  life  of  three  score  years  and  ten  to 
the  full  with  gentle  deeds  and  sweet  charities. 

My  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Wells  began,  when  a  boy, 
I  became  a  student  in  the  English  department  of  Phillips 
Academy,  at  Andover,  Mass.,  in  which,  having  completed 
his  course  of  study,  he  was  then  an  assistant-teacher.  I 
vividly  recall  the  tall,  spare  young  man,  of  nervous  man- 
ner, quick  tread,  and  enthusiastic  devotion  to  his  work, 
who  became  my  instructor  in  English  grammar.  So  able 
and  faithful  did  he  prove  himself  as  teacher,  that  he  was 
in  due  time  promoted  to  the  position  of  principal  of  the 
English  department  of  the  institution,  which  office  he 
filled  for  several  years  with  great  acceptance.  He  had 
already  become  so  well  known  and  honored  as  a  scholar 
and  educator  that,  in  1845,  the  board  of  trustees  of  Dart- 
mouth College  conferred  upon  him  the  degree  of  Master 
of  Arts.  This  eminence  in  his  profession  brought  him 
invitations  to  other  fields  of  labor,  and,  in  1848,  he  be- 
came principal  of  the  Putnam  Free  School,  at  Newbury- 


/O  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

port,  Mass.,  which  position  he  filled  six  years  with  great 
acceptance,  meanwhile  writing  often  for  educational  peri- 
odicals, giving  courses  of  lectures  on  various  subjects  of 
education,  and  assisting  in  the  organization  of  The 
Teachers'  Association  of  Massachusetts,  of  which  he  was 
for  two  years  the  president  His  reputation  had  now 
become  such  that,  in  1854,  he  was  called  by  the  Massa- 
chusetts State  Board  of  Education  to  take  charge  of  the 
State  normal  school  at  Westfield,  where  he  found  ample 
scope  for  his  rare  abilities  as  instructor  in  the  art  of 
teaching. 

But  Providence  had  destined  him  for  a  still  wider 
sphere  of  usefulness,  and,  in  1856,  he  accepted  the  posi- 
tion of  superintendent  of  the  public  schools  of  Chicago. 
He  came  to  this  office  in  the  maturity  of  his  powers,  and 
entered  upon  his  work  with  the  enthusiasm  of  youth  and 
the  wisdom  gained  by  large  experience.  Most  cordially 
was  he  welcomed  by  the  citizens,  and  great  as  were  their 
anticipations  respecting  him,  they  were  not  disappointed. 
He  reorganized  the  schools,  introduced  into  them  the 
"graded  course"  of  instruction,  and,  in  the  eight  years 
of  his  superintendency,  brought  them  up  to  a  high  stand- 
ard of  scholarship  and  efficiency.  Most  untiring  was  he 
in  his  efforts  to  make  the  public  schools  of  our  city  all 
that  they  should  be,  and  his  abundant  labors  for  them 
were  most  successful. 

For  the  last  twenty  years,  Mr.  Wells,  though  having 
weighty  business  responsibilities,  has  found  time  to  give 
to  the  press  works  on  English  grammar  and  numerous 
articles  on  educational  subjects,  and,  at  the  time  of  his 
decease,  was  preparing  a  work  on  the  history  of  the 
grammars  of  the  English  language.  He  was  also  deeply 
interested  in  whatever  concerned  the  weal  of  our  City 
and  State — a  citizen  of  large  public  spirit,  and  one  whose 
ability,  wisdom,  and  integrity  were  appreciated  by  our 
citizens.  For  some  years  he  was  a  member  of  our  State 
Board  of  Education;  was  president  of  the  Board  of  Edu- 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH.  /I 

cation  of  our  city;  was  a  member  of  the  Chicago  His- 
torical Society;  of  the  Board  of  the  Chicago  Public 
Library;  was  vice-president  of  the  Chicago  Astronomi- 
cal Society;  was  on  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Chicago 
Hospital  for  Women  and  Children;  was  a  member  of  the 
Chicago  Academy  of  Sciences;  and  also  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association.  Indeed,  few  of  our  citizens 
took  an  active  part  in  as  many  of  our  city  organizations 
as  he,  or  rendered  in  them  all  as  efficient  service.  The 
presence  here  today  of  so  many  members  and  officers  of 
these  several  boards  bears  witness  to  their  high  apprecia- 
tion both  of  the  services  and  of  the  character  of  the 
honored  dead. 

All  these  responsibilities  and  duties,  Mr.  Wells  dis- 
charged, not  only  as  a  citizen  having  at  heart  the  welfare 
of  his  fellow-men,  but  as  a  man  loyal  to  God.  He  was 
an  earnest,  consistent  Christian,  whose  great  aim  in  life 
was  the  faithful  performance  of  duty,  both  to  God  and 
to  Man.  He  was  not  demonstrative  in  the  expression  of 
his  religious  views  and  feelings,  but  a  Christian  of  decided 
convictions,  whose  life  was  under  the  control  of  religious 
principle. 

For  some  months  past  he  seemed  to  be  failing  in 
health,  until  he  became  convinced  that  he  was  near  his 
end.  In  one  of  my  calls  upon  him  a  few  weeks  ago,  he 
told  me  frankly  and  calmly  the  nature  of  his  disease  and 
his  critical  condition,  but  added  that  he  was  ready  to  go- 
whenever  the  Master  should  call.  He  did  not  fear  death, 
yet  he  would  like  to  live  long  enough  to  finish  some 
things  in  hand.  And  when  the  summons  came  he  was 
ready,  and  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  lie  down  and  breathe 
his  last,  his  life  going  out  so  gently  that  it  was  gone  ere 
surrounding  friends  were  aware. 

"  So  fades  a  summer-cloud  away ; 

So  sinks  the  gale  when  storms  are  o'er; 
So  gently  shuts  the  eye  of  day; 
So  dies  a  wave  along  the  shore."" 


72  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

Life's  labor  done,  and  well  done,  our  dear  friend  has 
doubtless  entered  into  the  joy  of  his  Lord. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  address,  the  congregation  was 
invited  to  join  the  choir  in  singing  the  favorite  hymn  of 
Mr.  Wells — "Jesus,  lover  of  my  soul,"  after  which  Dr. 
Noble  spoke  at  some  length  of  his  intercourse  with  the 
deceased,  and  especially  of  his  last  visit,  which  was  only 
a  few  days  previous  to  his  death.  Mr.  Wells  had  been 
in  failing  health  for  a  long  time,  and,  when  his  pastor 
called  upon  him,  spoke  freely  of  the  approaching  end. 
He  said  he  knew  he  was  nearing  the  grave,  but  death 
had  no  terrors  for  him.  He  expected  it,  and  was  pre- 
pared to  meet  it.  He  did  not  look  upon  death  as  most 
people  did,  but  regarded  it  as  simply  passing  from  one 
room  to  another  in  his  Father's  mansion. 

Rev.  Dr.  A.  E.  Kittredge  followed  with  a  few  remarks 
befitting  the  solemnity  of  the  occasion.  He  said  he  had 
not  seldom  attended  scenes  such  as  the  present,  and 
hence  was  able  to  recognize  not  a  few  of  the  faces  in 
the  congregation  of  mourners  over  the  death  of  Mr. 
Wells,  having  seen  them  at  the  funerals  of  Chicago's 
great  men.  It  was  not,  however,  the  technically  great 
men — those  who  are  great  in  this  or  that  particular  circle 
—whose  loss  was  felt  most  severely,  but  the  good  men 
who  were  the  strength  and  sinew  of  the  city.  It  was 
not  as  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Education,  or  as  a 
business  man,  that  he  mourned  the  death  of  his 'friend, 
but  as  one  who  was  great  in  all  those  grand  qualities  that 
go  to  make  up  a  noble  life.  Mr.  Wells  was  one  of  the 
first  men  the  speaker  had  known  in  the  city,  and  had 
been  to  him  ever  since  the  model  of  a  Christian  business 
man.  As  far  back  as  his  boyhood  he  had  given  his  heart 
to  Christ,  and  from  that  time  to  the  day  of  his  death,  the 
deepest  of  religious  convictions  had  governed  his  every 
action.  What  the  deceased  had  been  in  his  home-circle 
was  known  to  many  of  those  present.  His  life  before 
his  children  was  his  life  before  the  world. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  73 

After  singing  by  the  choir,  Dr.  Noble  pronounced  the 
benediction,  and  the  congregation  passed  around  by  the 
altar  to  take  a  last  look  at  the  features  of  their  departed 
friend.  The  remains  were  then  laid  to  rest  at  Rosehill 
Cemetery. 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  the  sermon  of  Rev. 
Dr.  Kittredge,  delivered  in  his  church  (Third  Presby- 
terian, Chicago)  the  Sabbath  next  succeeding  the  funeral: 

There's  another  from  our  city  just  entered  into  rest, 
and  only  yesterday  his  cold  form  lay  in  the  casket  before 
this  pulpit,  and  tear-wet  eyes  gazed  upon  the  silent  face 
of  William  Harvey  Wells.  For  a  quarter  of  a  century  he 
has  been  associated  with,  I  can  truly  say,  every  great 
interest  of  our  city;  he  has  given  the  culture  and  power 
of  his  thought  to  every  cause  which  looked  to  the  uplift- 
ing of  the  masses  and  the  moral  strength  of  our  com- 
munity, and,  though  physically  feeble  and  constitution- 
ally retiring,  his  life  has  enriched  every  other  life  it 
touched,  and  his  influence,  as  compared  With  that  of  our 
noisy  political  demagogues,  has  been  like  a  deep  and 
quiet  river  compared  with  a  shallow  and  muddy  brook. 
But  when  you  seek  for  the  secret  of  this  man's  moulding 
and  purifying  influence,  through  these  long  years  of  our 
city's  rapid  development,  you  find  it  in  that  purity  of 
character,  that  sturdiness  of  moral  principle,  that  unself- 
ish love,  which  were  the  fruits  of  his  simple  but  immov- 
able faith  in  Christ,  and  his  clear,  joyful  hope  of  a  glor- 
ious immortality.  He  walked  with  Go.d,  and  so  his  words 
and  acts  shed  the  fragrance  of  a  divine  royalty.  He 
lived  as  seeing  Him  who  is  invisible,  as  a  servant  hasten- 
ing to  give  up  an  account  of  his  stewardship,  as  a  citizen 
of  heaven,  and  therefore  desiring  tc  increase  its  citizen- 
ship, and  because  he  was  ready  to  die,  he  was  ready  to 
live  nobly  and  well.  So  near  did  he  live  to  the  Master, 
that  his  great  sorrow  was  his  unlikeness  to  him,  and 
though  even  to  those  who  knew  him  the  best  he  seemed 
6 


74  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

Christ-like,  he  said  but  a  few  days  before  he  fell  asleep: 
"  I  have  been  thinking  of  what  it  must  be  to  be  perfectly- 
holy;  not  to  have  one  thought  or  desire  of  sin;"  and  with 
this  longing,  one  of  his  favorite  hymns  was:  "What  must 
it  be  to  be  there?"  It  is  characters  like  these  who  are 
the  world's  great  men.  Not  the  man  who  can  by  mili- 
tary skill  hurl  battalions  upon  the  enemy,  until  he  has 
brought  the  world  to  his  feet,  like  Alexander ;  not  he 
who  can  rule  empires,  like  the  Caesars ;  not  he  who,  by- 
disciplined  thought,  solves  difficult  problems  in  science  or 
philosophy,  and  becomes  illustrious  as  a  scholar;  but  the. 
man  of  a  rounded  Christian  character,  who  moves  through 
the  world  scattering  blessings  on  every  side,  sanctifying 
society  at  every  point  that  he  touches  it,  leaving  a  com- 
munity purer  and  stronger  in  morals  because  he  has  lived 
within  its  bounds,  and  whose  influence,  a  silent  but 
mighty  force,  never  dies.  You  have  gazed,  perhaps,, 
upon  those  mountains  in  Switzerland,  whose  sides  are 
carpeted  with  the  richest  foliage,  but  whose  snowy  peaks 
piercing  the  clouds,  are  bathed  in  the  golden  sunlight, 
and  your  soul  has  been  suffused  with  the  beauty  and 
grandeur  of  the  scene  ;  but  a  good  man,  whose  life  is. 
fruitful  in  kindness  and  love,  and  whose  soul,  piercing 
through  the  clouds  of  sense,  has  caught  the  glory  of  the 
world  beyond,  is  the  noblest  and  most  beautiful  picture 
on  earth, —  like  the  cedar  of  Lebanon  in  moral  strength,, 
like  the  olive  in  fruitfulness,  and  like  both  the  cedar  and 
the  olive,  that  grow  downward  and  upward,  as  his  roots 
grow  downward  into  the  soil  of  faith,  the  branches  grow 
skyward,  and  even  pierce  the  starry  firmament. 


The  death  of  Mr.  Wells  was  recognized  by  the  press  of 
the  city  as  that  of  "A  mighty  man  in  Israel."  All  of  the 
daily  papers  gave,  in  their  next  issues,  a  sketch  of  his 
life,  comprising  such  of  the  leading  facts  in  his  career  as 
could  be  gathered  by  the  writers  on  the  spur  of  the  mo- 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  75 

ment.  It  is  not  necessary  to  reproduce  these  sketches, 
as  to  do  so  would  be  to  repeat  over  and  over  again  state- 
ments that  are  substantially  identical,  and  are  produced 
in  other  form  in  these  pages.  But  we  may  say  that  all, 
\vithout  exception,  bore  witness  to  the  high  estimate 
placed  by  the  community  upon  his  services  in  the  cause 
of  education,  and  in  the  many  other  ways  in  which  he  had 
been  identified  with  the  progress  of  the  city  during  his 
long  residence  within  its  boundaries,  and  testified  to  the 
general  sorrow  felt  at  his  loss.  We  append  a  few  extracts: 

The  Chicago  Tribune  said : 

Such  was  the  integrity  and  energy  of  his  character, 
that  positions  of  trust  and  honor  were  continually  crowd- 
ing upon  him,  and  there  are  few  public  educational  or 
charitable  institutions  in  Chicago  which  have  not  at  some 
time  or  other  numbered  him  among  their  directors. 

The  Chicago  Times  said: 

His  death  removes  from  the  community  a  man  whose 
life's  aim  was  the  promotion  of  the  highest  and  purest 
interests  of  his  fellow-men.  He  was  at  all  times  an  ear- 
nest and  conscientious  worker,  and  accomplished  much 
in  the  cause  of  popular  education  in  this  city. 

The  Chicago  Evening  Journal  said: 

The  death  of  Mr.  Wells  removes  from  the  community 
a  man  whose  life  was  dedicated  to  the  promotion  of  the 
highest  interests  of  his  fellow-men.  He  was  an  earnest 
and  assiduous  laborer  in  the  cause  of  popular  education,, 
and  in  all  the  relations  of  life  was  true,  high- minded. 

o 

energetic,  and  sincere.  There  has  hardly  been  a  move- 
ment for  many  years  in  Chicago,  in  the  direction  of  edu- 
cational progress  or  charitable  work,  that  he  has  not  had 
a  hand  in  shaping  or  forwarding. 

The  Chicago  Herald  said : 

In  his  death  the  city  loses  an  earnest  advocate  of  the 
cause  of  popular  education.  He  came  to  Chicago  in  1856 


?6  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

to  assume  the  superintendency  of  the  public  schools.  This 
office  he  held  for  eight  years,  and  he  discharged  the 
duties  of  it  with  such  zeal  and  ability  as  to  win  enco- 
miums from  all  classes  of  citizens. 

The  Chicago  Advance  said  : 

Under  his  administration  the  educational  system  was 
placed  upon  a  new  and  advanced  foundation  by  the  im- 
provements and  changes  which  he  introduced.  It  was 
distinguished  for  eminent  ability  and  practical  success. 
He  was  always  and  everywhere,  in  both  public  and 
private  relations,  a  man  of  strict  honor  and  Christian 
integrity. 

From  the  Intelligencer  of  Chicago,  Feb.  1st,  1885: 

By  the  older  educators  of  the  country  Mr.  Wells  was 
widely  known  as  one  of  the  foremost  educational  men  in 
our  land.  To  a  later  but  narrower  circle  he  was  known 
and  honored  in  quite  another  capacity,  as  the  wise,  pub- 
lic-spirited townsman  and  business  man ;  and  in  his 
death  on  the  2ist  ult,  Chicago  lost  one  of  her  old  and 
most  highly-esteemed  citizens. 

Up  to  the  end  of  his  life  he  was  associated  with  all  the 
more  prominent  and  important  associations  of  the  city 
which  have  for  their  object  the  promotion  of  its  welfare. 
Few  men  have  as  broad  and  warm  sympathy  for  their 
fellows  as  Mr.  Wells  had.  Besides  his  interest  in  local 
works,  he  was  an  ardent  friend  of  the  cause  of  foreign 
missions.  In  fact,  as  was  remarked  at  his  funeral,  it 
would  be  hard  to  name  a  philanthropic  project  which  did 
not  command  his  cooperation  to  a  greater  or  less  extent. 

As  a  scholar,  he  took  particular  interest  in  astronomy 
and  the  English  language.  Our  readers  know  of  some  of 
his  more  recent  contributions  in  the  history  of  diction- 
ary-making, and  in  review  of  the  great  dictionary  now 
building  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Murray.  English 
grammar  was  a  subject  of  absorbing  interest  to  him  from 
his  early  days,  and  he  published  several  works  upon  it, 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  77 

the  sales  of  one  or  two  exceeding  275,000  copies.  His 
library  possessed  a  copy  of  [nearly]  every  English  gram- 
mar that  has  ever  been  published,  a  fact  in  which  he 
took  peculiar  satisfaction.  When  his  end  came  he  was 
engaged  upon  a  history  of  English  grammar.  Probably 
no  man  living  had  the  ability  and  facilities  for  such  a 
work  to  be  compared  to  those  of  Mr.  Wells;  and  it  is  a 
source  of  deep  regret  that  he  was  not  permitted  to  com- 
plete the  work.  As  the  combined  result  of  his  philan- 
thropic impulses  and  of  his  full  knowledge  of  English 
speech,  he  was  a  strong  advocate  of  reforming  English 
spelling,  and  did  what  he  could  to  promote  the  movement. 

In  his  own  words,  to  him  death  was  but  the  passage 
from  one  room  to  another  in  his  Father's  house.  At  last 
he  passed  away  suddenly,  even  unawares  to  his  family. 

Such  in  brief  is  the  record  of  an  exceptionally  full, 
well-rounded,  Christian  life  of  more  than  threescore  years 
and  ten. 

From  the  Dial  of  Chicago,  February,  1885: 

The  death  of  William  Harvey  Wells,  which  occurred 
in  Chicago,  January  21,  at  the  age  of  seventy-two,  re- 
moved a  veteran  scholar  and  author,  distinguished  espe- 
cially for  his  practical  work  in  the  cause  of  education. 
As  superintendent  of  schools  in  Chicago,  from  1856  to 
1864,  he  introduced  and  perfected  the  graded  system, 
and  later  he  held  the  important  office  of  president  of  the 
board  of  education,  and  was  one  of  the  directors  of  the 
Chicago  Public  Library.  He  was  the  author  of  the 
familiar  "  Wells  Grammar,"  and  his  tastes  leading  him 
especially  to  this  branch  of  study,  he  had  made  a  collec- 
tion of  early  grammars  and  dictionaries  that  was  among 
the  most  extensive  known.  Mr.  Wells  assisted  in  the 
great  work  of  revising  Webster's  Dictionary  for  the  un- 
abridged edition,  and  his  services  received  honorable 
recognition  in  the  earlier  prefaces.  He  was  an  authority 
in  such  matters,  and  his  contributions  to  the  Dial,  of 


78  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

which  the  last  appeared  in  April,  1884,  consisted  chiefly 
of  reviews  of  the  three  or  four  great  dictionaries  that 
have  appeared  in  the  past  few  years.  He  was  an  old 
correspondent  of  Dr.  Murray,  the  president  of  the  English 
Philological  Society,  and  other  leading  philologists. 

[Mr.  Wells  was  a  member  of  the  English  Philological 
Society,  and  his  collection  of  about  1500  grammars  is 
undoubtedly  the  largest  in  the  world.] 

From  the  "Journal  of  Education  "  of  Boston,  Jan.  29, 
1885: 

The  news  of  the  sudden  death  at  Chicago,  on  Wednes- 
day, Jan.  21,  of  William  Harvey  Wells,  will  sadden  many 
hearts  who  during  his  active  labors  in  the  cause  of  public 
education,  East  and  West,  enjoyed  his  companionship, 
and  were  aided  by  his  wise  and  helpful  teachings  and 
noble  example.  He  was  a  natural  teacher,  and  his  early 
manhood  was  spent  in  his  chosen  profession.  Very  few 
of  the  noble  band  of  educators  of  that  day  live  to  weep 
at  the  grave  of  Mr.  Wells.  Of  that  notable  body  were 
Thomas  Sherwin,  S.  S.  Green,  Gideon  F.  Thayer,  Barras 
Sears,  Louis  Agassiz,  Cyrus  Pierce,  Oliver  Carlton,  Ben- 
jamin Greenleaf,  and  many  others  who  have  closed  their 
labors  on  earth.  Charles  Northend,  Elbridge  Smith, 
George  A.  Walton,  Joshua  Bates,  Ariel  Parish,  B.  F. 
Tweed,  John  D.  Philbrick,  J.  P.  Cowles,  and  a  few  others 
of  that  group  of  educational  pioneers  still  live  to  cherish 
the  memory  of  their  friends  and  co-laborer,  Mr.  Wells. 
*  *  *  *  He  was  an  industrious  writer  on  educational 
subjects,  contributing  to  various  educational  journals  to 
the  close  of  his  life,  and  was  the  author  of  the  graded 
course  of  instruction,  now  quite  generally  in  use. 

"  'T  is  held  that  sorrow  makes  us  wise, 
Whatever  wisdom  sleep  with  thee." 

The  same  journal,  in  their  issue  of  Feb.  12,  1885,  pub- 
lished the  following  sketch : 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  79 

It  was  in  the  spring  of  '48,  if  I  remember  rightly,  that 
Mr.  Wells  became  the  first  principal  of  the  Putnam  Free 
.School  in  Newburyport,  Mass.  This  was  a  privately- 
endowed  institution,  designed  to  afford  to  all  youth  of 
both  sexes  an  advanced  English  education.  It  was  left 
to  Mr.  Wells  to  inaugurate  and  shape  this  school,  which 
opened  with  forty  pupils  of  each  sex,  selected  by  competi- 
tive examination  from  three  times  that  number  of  appli- 
cants from  the  best  preparatory  institutions  of  the  town 
and  vicinity,  including  many  from  Boston  and  other  cities. 
It  was  a  field  for  organizing  and  creative  energy  of  a  high 
•order,  and  was  filled  with  distinguished  ability  by  Mr. 
Wells,  who  loved  to  speak  of  that  first  class  as  one  of 
shining  talents;  it  was  a  darling  of  his  early  enthusiasm, 
and  thoroughly  magnetized  by  his  zeal;  into  the  life  of  its 
•every  member  he  projected  his  high  ideals  and  fervent 
aims,  and  they  have  endured  through  a  generation  of 
grateful  remembrance.  He  aroused  the  most  effectual 
esprit  de  corps,  and  I  venture  to  affirm  that  the  mutual 
ardor  which  he  inspired  in  the  cause  of  learning  and  char- 
acter have  so  survived  that  at  this  day  a  genuine  feeling 
of  fellowship  binds  the  hearts  of  those  members  as  with 
links  of  steel.  He  never  forgot  their  individual  character- 
istics, and  when  I  met  him  in  Chicago  last  summer,  after 
a  lapse  of  thirty  years,  he  recalled  many  a  point  of  my 
own  record  which  I  had  forgotten,  and  repeated  to  me, 
with  something  of  his  old  fire,  a  verse  of  a  little  hymn  I 
wrote  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  when  I  was  the  youngest  mem- 
ber of  the  school.  No  wonder  those  whom  he  instructed 
so  well  cherish  in  their  deepest  hearts  the  memory  of  his 
life  and  love. 

I  am  glad  to  say,  as  a  tribute  to  his  power  as  a  teacher, 
that  a  large  proportion  of  that  class  confirmed  his  gener- 
ous confidence,  and  their  names  as  authors-,  teachers,  and 
scientists  shine  as  gems  in  his  crown.  I  believe  this  suc- 
cess was  largely  owing  to  the  inspiration  of  that  confidence 
and  to  the  moral  and  intellectual  stimulus  of  his  example 


80  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

and  training.  In  every  direction  in  which  his  mind 
reached  out  he  communicated  magnetic  fervor.  He  made 
his  scholars  feel  life  to  be  a  cheery  business ;  there  was  no- 
room  in  his  theory  for  drift  and  dalliance,  but  with  precise 
and  systematic  habits  and  methods  of  work  he  taught  us 
to  achieve  success.  I  have  had  somewhat  to  do  since  that 
day  with  educational  men  and  methods  and  school  admin- 
istration, but  I  have  never  seen  a  man  who  combined  the 
organizing  ability,  administrative  faculty,  and  the  personal 
influence  for  character  with  such  earnest  and  philosophical 
method,  both  intellectual  and  moral,  as  did  Mr.  Wells  as 
I  remember  him  in  that  school.  He  was  a  young  man, 
punctilious  in  his  manner,  kind  as  well  as  earnest  in  his 
dealings  with  the  pupil,  most  respectful  in  his  bearing  to 
both  young  men  and  young  women,  never  without  a 
degree  of  ceremony  in  his  intercourse  with  them,  which, 
as  I  have  often  thought,  preserved  the  finest  relations 
between  him  and  them,  and  which,  instead  of  preventing,, 
was  most  favorable  to  the  high  influence  he  was  constantly 
exerting  upon  their  manners  and  character.  I  was  one  of 
that  class  for  a  few  years,  and  I  never  remember  Mr.  Wells 
as  other  than  the  high-strung  and  sensitive  man  of  honor 
and  noble  breeding  before  his  pupils,  or  as  bringing  to 
bear  upon  them  any  other  than  the  purest  and  most 
exalted  motives  and  aims.  All  his  pupils  loved  and 
reverenced  him;  he  was  never  ridiculed;  he  was  never 
disobeyed;  he  stirred  everyone  to  noble  action,  to  resolute 
endeavor,  to  immortal  ambitions.  He  was  always  true, 
always  in  earnest,  always  meant  character.  His  prayers, 
his  short  and  earnest  exhortations,  his  private  conferences, 
his  personal  appeals,  were  most  searching  and  effectual. 
He  taught  his  pupils  how  to  live  so  as  that  they  might  say 
at  last:  "Thou,  Lord,  gavest  me  ten  talents;  behold  I 
have  made  them  ten  more."  Yes;  he  inculcated  without 
offence,  in  all  his  relations  with  his  scholars,  the  precepts 
of  the  Christian  religion,  now  so  out  of  date  in  our  school 
education.  He  was  a  master-builder  of  character. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  8  I 

Aside  from  this  great  accomplishment,  which  was  su- 
preme, he  was  a  most  clear  and  vigorous  intellectual 
instructor.  He  imparted  the  burning  desire  to  master  the 
subject  we  took  hold  of;  to  perceive  clearly,  to  reason 
correctly,  to  discover  for  ourselves,  to  experiment,  to  be- 
lieve in  the  result  of  our  own  mental  efforts,  to  stand  by 
our  intellectual  convictions,  to  be  sanguine  of  success,  to 
try  for  the  most  difficult  attainment — we  learned  in  every 
lesson  he  taught  us.  We  were  enthusiasts  in  every  branch 
of  study  directed  by  him.  The  laboratory  and  the  tele- 
scope opened  endless  fields  of  investigation,  into  which  we 
went  how  eagerly  at  his  call !  Grammar  was  a  pastime, 
and  the  clouds  never  gathered  about  it  in  his  hands. 
Composition  was  an  exciting  romance.  Who  will  ever 
forget  the  exhilaration  of  the  extemporaneous  composition 
exercises,  when  the  whole  school  rushed  into  the  arena  of 
original  expression  with  the  ardor  of  Roman  athletes  ?• 
Harriet  Prescott  (Spofford)  of  course  always  took  the  first 
prizes,  but  others  came  in  not  far  behind.  In  logic  and 
mathematics,  astronomy  and  physics,  we  went  buoyantly 
through  a  course,  then  equivalent  to  a  collegiate  one,, 
under  his  stimulating  and  illuminating  guidance.  I  do 
not  believe  any  man  ever  taught  those  branches  to  more 
purpose,  or  with  more  enjoyment  to  his  classes. 

As  for  discipline,  it  was  so  radical  and  vital  in  its 
methods  that  we  were  unconscious  of  it.  If  any  ripple  of 
unnecessary  disturbance  threatened,  that  quick,  nervous 
glance  of  the  eye,  and  the  short,  monitory  cough  were 
sufficient  to  restore  attention  at  once.  The  only  measure 
generally  noticeable  to  which  I  remember  his  resorting  was- 
the  order  given  to  a  mischievous  boy  to  accompany  him 
from  room  to  room,  inasmuch  as  he  couldn't  control  him- 
self without  the  oversight  of  the  master ;  so  for  a  few 
weeks  a  roguish-eyed  boy  followed  Mr.  Wells'  quick  move- 
ments automatically  from  room  to  room,  to  the  suppressed 
diversion  of  the  girls,  and  was  cured  of  his  failing.  The 
discipline  was  unconscious  and  masterly. 


32  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

Mr.  Wells  invariably  addressed  his  pupils  as  "young 
gentlemen  "  and  "young  ladies,"  whether  in  school  or  out, 
at  recess  or  in  session.  There  was  no  insincerity  or  lack 
of  respect  toward  any  girl,  whatever  her  degree  of  social 
position  or  innate  refinement ;  his  treatment  of  her  was 
unfailingly. loyal  to  her  sex.  He  could  not  bear  the  most 
•distant  approach  to  looseness  of  manner  or  feeling,  and 
•every  fibre  of  his  nature  vibrated  to  a  refined  courtesy. 

He  had  a  most  felicitous  and  delicate  appreciation  of 
words  and  tact  of  utterance,  and  could  put  into  the  nicest 
form  a  suggestion  which  another  would  have  handled 
clumsily  or  brutally.  His  perception  of  shades  of  expres- 
sion, both  in  taste  and  morals,  was  artistic.  His  ringing 
words,  the  nervous  movement  of  his  person,  the  condensed 
fire  of  his  glance,  his  crisp  and  telling  precepts,  often 
pressed  home,  moulded  the  hearts  and  lives  of  his  grateful 
pupils.  Such  influences  can  never  become  inoperative  or 
forgotten,  nor  can  those  whose  lives  have  been  in  a  great 
measure  formed  by  their  undying  impulse  ever  cease  to 
feel  a  heart-thrill  at  the  mention  of  his  beloved  and  hon- 
ored name. 

LOUISA  PARSONS  (STONE)  HOPKINS. 


A  special  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Education  was  held 
in  the  afternoon  of  January  23,  to  take  action  on  the  death 
of  Mr.  Wells.  The  president  James  R.  Doolittle,  Jr.,  Esq., 
occupied  the  chair,  and  the  attendence  was  a  very  large 
one,  an  invitation  having  been  extended  to  all  former 
members  of  the  Board. 

Among  those  present  were  Hon.  John  Wentworth,  J. 
Young  Scammon,  Rev.  Wm.  H.  Ryder,  Joseph  S.  Dennis, 
John  C.  Richberg,  David  Walsh,  William  H.  King,  Luther 
Stone,  Henry  T.  Steele,  John  Forsythe,  Thomas  Wilce, 
Lester  L.  Bond,  Ernest  Trussing,  Emanuel  Frankenthal, 
James  Frake,  Wm.  H.  English,  A.  C.  Bartlett,  Elbridge 
G.  Keith,  Dr.  John  C.  Burroughs,  and  Chalkley  J.  Ham- 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  83 

bleton,  ex-members,  and  Adolph  Kraus,  Allen  C.  Story, 
James  R.  Doolittle,  Jr.,  John  W.  Garvey,  Conrad  L.  Nei- 
hofif,  Frank  Winter,  P.  Conlan,  and  Daniel  Corkery  of  the 
present  Board. 

In  calling  the  meeting  to  order,  President  Doolittle 
referred  to  the  great  loss  which  the  cause  of  education 
had  sustained  in  the  death  of  Mr.  Wells,  who  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Board,  superintendent  of  schools,  and  a  man 
well  known  on  account  of  his  long  connection  with  the 
educational  history  of  Chicago. 

Mr.  Kraus  moved  that  the  chair  appoint  a  committee 
of  five  to  draft  suitable  resolutions,  and  that  in  selecting 
the  committee  ex-members  of  the  Board  as  well  as 
present  members  be  chosen.  The  president  appointed 
Messrs.  Kraus  and  Story  of  the  Board,  and  J.  Young 
Scammon,  John  Wentworth,  and  William  H.  King,  ex- 
members.  While  the  committee  was  out,  President  Doo- 
little said  it  would  be  appropriate,  if  anyone  were  present 
who  desired,  to  make  remarks  on  the  life  and  character  of 
Mr.  Wells.  C.  L.  Niehoff  moved  that  Dr.  Ryder  be  re- 
quested to  address  the  meeting.  The  doctor  said  that  his 
acquaintance  with  Mr.  Wells  commenced  in  1860.  He 
was  aware  of  his  distinguished  reputation  as  an  educator 
in  Boston,  and  when  Mr.  Wells  came  here  he  sought  his 
acquaintance.  He  was  on  the  board  for  three  years  while 
the  deceased  was  superintendent  of  schools.  Mr.  Wells 
was  at  that  time  laboring  on  the  graded  system.  He 
considered  him  to  have  been  one  of  our  most  estimable 
citizens,  and  well  fitted  for  an  educator.  In  all  his  rela- 
tions he  was  not  only  kind  and  gentlemanly,  but  honor- 
able and  honest,  There  was  nothing  in  his  character 
deceptive  or  equivocal,  and  he  could  but  regret  that  Prov- 
idence should  have  taken  him  from  among  the  citizens  of 
Chicago,  who  owed  to  him  their  gratitude  and  praise. 

J.  S.  Dennis  said  while  he  knew  Mr.  Wells  on  the 
Board  he  impressed  him  as  one  of  the  fairest  men  he  had 
met.  He  was  always  courteous  and  generous,  whether  he 


84  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

differed  or  agreed  with  his  associates.  He  found  him  very 
instructive,  and  he  felt  that  few  men  had  as  much  weight 
upon  the  Board,  or  more  wisely  guided  its  opinions.  He 
felt  honored  in  a  continuance  of  his  acquaintance,  and  the 
speaker  was  weighed  down  with  sorrow  in  the  knowledge 
that  one  who  had  served  the  cause  of  education  so  well 
should  have  been  taken  away. 

The  following  communication  was  received  from  Dr. 
Norman  Bridge,  a  former  member  of  the  Board: 

Hon.  J.  R.  DOOLITTLE,  Jr.,  President  Board  of  Education: 

My  Dear  Sir: — I  greatly  regret  my  inability  to  be 
present  this  afternoon  at  the  meeting  of  members  and 
ex-members  of  the  Board  to  pay  their  respects  to  the 
memory  of  the  late  Mr.  W.  H.  Wells. 

Nothing  could  be  more  fitting  than  such  a  meeting  for 
such  a  purpose. 

Mr.  Wells  lived  nearly  a  generation  in  our  midst.  He 
was  often  and  much  before  the  public  eye;  he  served  the 
community  in  several  important  relations,  in  each  of  which 
the  force  of  his  good  sense  and  high  character  was  felt 
forcefully  for  the  public  good,  and  he  has  died  without 
leaving  the  record  of  an  act  or  a  word  that  can  cause  his 
friends  a  regret. 

While  he  served  the  Public  Library  last  and  to  its  great 
benefit  and  the  lasting  credit  of  himself  and  the  people, 
his  work  in  the  department  of  public  instruction  must 
stand  as  his  greater  work.  Commencing  as  superintendent 
of  schools  before  most  of  us  became  citizens  of  Chicago, 
and  ending  as  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Education,  to 
which  he  gave  some  years  of  honest  and  arduous  work,  a 
part  of  the  time  as  its  president,  he  has  left  a  record  in 
this  work,  as  well  as  in  the  purity  and  uprightness  of  his 
life,  that  any  citizen  might  be  glad  to  make  and  proud  to 
leave  behind  him.  May  the  memory  of  such  a  life  lead  us 
all  to  better  citizenship  and  high  aims. 

Let  me  join  your  meeting  in  the  action  it  may  take. 
Most  respectfully,  NORMAN  BRIDGE. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  85 

The  committee  on  their  return  offered  the  following 
minute  and  resolutions: 

IN  MEMORIAM. — WILLIAM  HARVEY  WELLS. 
The  Board  of  Education  of  the  city  of  Chicago  called 
together,  with  former  members  of  the  Board,  to  make 
some  suitable  expression  of  respect  for  the  memory  of  its 
deceased  associate,  the  late  William  Harvey  Wells,  orders 
that  the  following  minute  be  placed  upon  its  records: 

In  no  spirit  of  mere  formality,  but  with  a  deep  sense  of 
personal  sorrow  as  well  as  of  the  great  loss  to  the  cause 
of  education  and  the  public  welfare,  this  Board  in  record- 
ing the  death  of  William  Harvey  Wells,  at  his  home  in 
this  city  on  the  2ist  inst.,  unites  with  ex-members  present 
at  this  meeting  in  the  expression  of  profound  respect  for 
his  character  and  grateful  appreciation  of  his  work,  especi- 
ally in  the  cause  of  education  in  this  city.  *  *  *  # 

Mr.  Wells  was  elected  as  superintendent,  and  entering 
at  once  upon  the  work,  continued  in  that  position  until 
impaired  health  led  to  his  resignation  in  1864.  His  con- 
nection with  the  school  system  of  the  city  marked  an  era 
in  its  history.  Before  him,  it  is  true,  public  opinion  had 
not  been  indifferent  to  the  interests  of  education,  and 
public-spirited  citizens  had,  from  an  early  period  in  the 
history  of  the  city,  done  what  was  then  possible  to  organ- 
ize schools  and  foster  the  spirit  of  education  among  the 
people.  Under  Mr.  Wells,  however,  what  had  before  been 
crude  and  provisional  was  brought  to  thorough  organiza- 
tion and  efficiency.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  his 
work  was  the  foundation  of  whatever  is  best  and  most 
permanent  in  our  present  educational  system,  and  so  well 
did  he  do  his  work  that  those  who  have  followed  him  have 
found  little  else  necessary  than  to  build  on  the  foundations 
which  he  laid.  It  is  a  matter  of  history  that  the  first 
systematized  graded  course  of  study  arranged  for  primary 
and  grammar  schools  was  that  prepared  by  Mr.  Wells  for 
the  Chicago  schools  in  1861,  the  effect  of  which  was  not 


86  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

confined  to  the  city,  but  extended  throughout  the  North- 
west. 

It  is  evidence  of  the  public  sense  of  his  value  as  a 
counsellor  and  guide  in  educational  interests  that  at  three 
different  times  after  the  close  of  his  superintendency  he 
was  chosen  as  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Education,  and 
for  one  term  as  its  president. 

It  would,  however,  be  injustice  to  Mr.  Wells  to  limit  his 
public  services  to  his  educational  work.  On  the  contrary, 
he  held  the  broadest  view  of  his  responsibilities  and  duties 
as  a  citizen,  and  we  believe  we  express  the  unanimous 
judgment  of  his  fellow-citizens  in  saying  that  during  his 
nearly  thirty  years  in  this  community,  Mr.  Wells  has  uni- 
formly stood  for  whatever  is  best  in  the  character  and 
progress  of  the  city;  and  that  by  his  public  services,  and 
still  more  by  his  pure  and  upright  personal  character,  he 
has  deserved,  as  he  will  receive,  the  gratitude  and  lasting 
honor  of  his  fellow-citizens. 

The  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Dearborn  Observatory,  of 
which  he  was  one  of  the  founders ;  the  Board  of  the  Public 
Library,  of  which,  for  a  number  of  years  and  up  to  the 
time  of  hts  death,  he  was  an  efficient  member;  the  church, 
always  the  sphere  of  his  best  activities;  and  many  organ- 
izations for  charity  and  public  improvement,  of  which  he 
was  the  promoter,  were  only  some  of  the  channels  through 
which  he  sought  to  serve  the  cause  of  humanity,  morality, 
and  religion. 

Resolved,  That,  as  a  token  of  respect  to  Mr.  Wells,  this 
Board  and  former  members  present  at  this  meeting  will 
attend  his  funeral  in  a  body. 

Resolved,  That  the  clerk  of  the  Board  be  directed  to 
forward  to  Mrs.  Wells  and  her  family  a  copy  of  this  min- 
ute, with  assurances  of  the  sincere  condolence  of  tke  Board 
in  their  bereavement. 

Remarks  upon  the  minute  and  resolutions  were  made 
by  ex -members,  W.  H.  King,  John  Wentworth,  W.  H. 
Ryder,  L.  L.  Bond,  E.  G.  Keith,  E.  Trussing-,  L.  Stone, 
and  W.  J.  English. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  87 

The  minute  and  resolution  were  adopted  unanimously. 

Mr.  Scammon  then  read  a  paper  on  Mr.  Wells,  in  which, 
he  said  that  he  was  thoroughly  conscientious  and  Chris- 
tian-like. He  was  not  only  a  learned  man  in  the  theories- 
of  education,  but  from  grammatical  work  to  a  study  of  the 
heavens  he  was  in  every  respect  thorough  and  complete. 


A  meeting  of  Directors  of  the  Chicago  Public  Library 
was  held  in  the  afternoon  of  January  23,  to  take  action  on 
the  death  of  Mr.  Wells.  Upon  the  table  in  the  Directors'" 
room  lay  a  beautiful  floral  offering,  fashioned  to  represent 
an  open  book,  and  composed  of  tuberoses,  camellias,  and 
other  flowers,  while  in  the  centre  of  the  pages  had  been 
inserted  in  immortelles  the  inscription:  "W.  H.  W.;  Finis."" 
The  offering  was  made  by  the  employes  and  officers  of 
the  institution.  The  following  expression  of  esteem  was 
unanimously  adopted : 

The  Board  of  the  Public  Library  of  Chicago,  in  special 
meeting  assembled,  taking  official  notice  of  the  demise  of 
one  of  its  most  honored  members,  Hon.  William  H.  Wells,. 
desire  to  record  their  unfeigned  sorrow  at  his  sudden 
departure  from  the  scene  of  his  earthly  duties  and  labors. 
Before  his  entry  into  this  Board  the  deceased  bore  the 
reputation  of  an  accomplished  scholar  and  an  earnest 
laborer  in  that  most  important  of  institutions,  the  public 
school.  His  fame  as  an  educator  and  author  was  not 
confined  to  this  locality,  but  extended  wherever  the  public- 
school  system  prevails.  Coming  to  this  Board  with  these 
acknowledged  accomplishments,  his  entry  among  us  was- 
hailed  as  an  assurance  that  his  well-gathered  experience 
in  educational  matters  and  devotion  to  books  and  their 
contents  would  redound  to  the  benefit  of  this  institution. 
His  connection  with  the  committee  on  administration,  and 
library  and  finance  committees,  respectively,  well  showed 
his  high  sense  of  duty,  his  appreciation  of  justice,  and  an 


88  WILLIAM   HARVEY   WELLS. 

unflagging  attention  to  public  duties  under  the  most  try- 
ing circumstances  consequent  upon  his  physical  ailment. 

When  last  he  met  with  us  at  our  meeting  he  bore  the  evi- 
dent mark  of  an  accelerating  disease,  yet  he  participated 
with  the  same  lively  interest  in  the  work  of  the  Board, 
which  had  a  peculiar  charm  and  interest  for  him.  His  love 
for  books  seined  a  solace  to  his  vigorous  mind,  and  bore 
him  evident  satisfaction  in  the  hours  of  pain  and  trouble. 
His  uniform  urbanity  and  kindliness  of  heart,  expressed  in 
every  official  and  private  act,  move  us  in  recording  our 
warm  affection  for  his  memory.  As  a  mark  of  respect  for 
the  dead  it  is  resolved  by  the  Board  of  Public  Library  of 
Chicago  that  its  members  and  executive  officers  accom- 
pany his  funeral  as  an  official  body;  that  the  library  be 
closed  during  the  hours  of  his  funeral;  that  his  seat  be 
draped  in  mourning  for  thirty  days;  and  that  a  copy  of 
this  memorial  be  spread  upon  our  records  and  be  trans- 
mitted to  the  family  of  the  deceased  by  the  secretary  of 
this  Board. 

A  special  meeting  of  the  Life- Underwriter's  Association 
of  Chicago  convened  Jan.  23d,  to  take  suitable  action  with 
reference  to  the  death  of  William  H.  Wells,  first  and  only 
president  of  the  association,  the  vice-president,  Gen.  A.  L. 
Chetlain,  presiding,  and  Mr.  Charles  H.  Ferguson,  acting 
as  secretary. 

Gen.  Chetlain,  after  stating  the  object  for  which  the 
association  was  assembled  and  warmly  eulogizing  the 
deceased,  invited  remarks  from  others,  whereupon  Messrs. 
Curran  of  the  Equitable  Life;  Felch  of  the  State  Mutual; 
Mitchell  of  New-York  Life;  Stearns  of  the  Connecticut 
Mutual;  Poulson  of  the  Massachusetts  Mutual,  and  Davis 
of  the  Connecticut  General  responded  feelingly,  giving 
expression  to  their  sense  of  the  high  character  of  Mr. 
Wells,  and  to  the  deep  regret  which  they,  in  common  with 
others,  felt  for  the  loss  of  so  good  a  man  and  so  honorable 
a  member  of  the  life-insurance  fraternity. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  89 

After  this  expression,  Gen.  A.  L.  Chetlain,  Mr.  C.  P. 
Felch,  and  Mr.  John  K.  Stearns  were  appointed  a  com- 
mittee to  prepare  and  present  memorial  resolutions  ex- 
pressive of  the  unqualified  respect  of  the  association  for 
the  deceased.  The  committee  reported  the  following  pre- 
amble and  resolutions,  which  were  unanimously  adopted: 

WHEREAS,  We  have  learned,  with  deep  sorrow,  of  the 
sudden  death  of  William  H.  Wells,  for  many  years  presi- 
dent of  this  association,  and  recognize,  in  this  sad  event, 
the  hand  of  an  all- wise,  though  inscrutable,  Providence; 
and, 

Whereas,  In  the  death  of  Mr.  Wells,  the  Life  Associa- 
tion of  Chicago  has  lost  an  able  presiding  officer,  a  saga- 
cious counselor,  and  an  every  way  most  estimable  member; 
and, 

Whereas,  The  city  of  Chicago  has  been  deprived  of  one 
of  its  wisest  and  best  citizens,  and  the  educational  inter- 
ests of  the  country  of  one  of  its  most  valued  laborers;  and, 

Whereas,  The  church  to  which  he  belonged  has  been 
bereft  of  an  efficient  and  ever-faithful  officer,  and  the  fam- 
ily, of  which  he  was  the  centre,  of  a  tender  and  affectionate 
father;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  as  citizens  and  friends  of  the  deceased, 
while  we  are  profoundly  grateful  for  the  long  life,  the 
varied  and  inestimable  services,  the  unblemished  Christian 
character,  and  bright  example  of  our  friend,  we  deeply 
mourn  his  death,  and  tender  to  the  stricken  family  our 
heartfelt  sympathy  in  this  hour  of  bereavement;  and  be  it 

Resolved,  That  these  resolutions  be  placed  upon  the 
records  of  this  Association,  and  that  copies  be  sent  to  the 
daily  papers  and  to  the  family  of  the  deceased. 


A  meeting  of  the  directors  and  officers  of  the  Chicago 
Astronomical  Society  was  held  Jan.  28,  1885,  the  presi- 
dent, Dr.  Hosmer  A.  Johnson,  in  the  chair.    The  following 
minute  in  regard  to  Mr.  Wells  was  unanimously  adopted: 
7 


90  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

His  long  life,  so  full  of  usefulness  in  almost  unnumbered 
ways,  was  especially  valuable  to  our  society  and  its  work. 
He  participated  in  the  first  movement  to  found  an  astro- 
nomical observatory  in  this  city,  and,  while  others  were 
prompt  in  responding  to  the  appeal  for  pecuniary  aid,  it 
was  his  good  judgment  that  corrected  and  guided  their 
"  zeal  .  .  .  not  according  to  knowledge."  But  for  him,  the 
money  contributed  would  have  been  expended  for  the 
purchase  and  mounting  of  an  instrument  not  worthy  to- 
be  compared  with  the  one  that  was  subsequently  chosen. 

From  that  time  on,  his  wise  and  prudent  counsels  were 
always  ready  when  wanted,  but  never  offered  without 
being  asked  for.  They  were  of  the  greatest  value  during 
the  few  years  succeeding  the  great  fire  and  the  panic, 
when  the  demon  of  contention  threatened  to  destroy  what 
poverty  had  left  alone.  As  a  student  of  astronomy  in 
his  youth,  and  later  as  a  lecturer  on  the  science,  he  had 
obtained  a  rare  insight  into  the  needs  of  such  an  institu- 
tion, and  his  best  efforts  were  given  to  it,  without  care  for 
credit,  much  less  a  wish  for  pecuniary  reward.  In  his 
death  the  society  has  lost  one  of  its  best  friends,  as  its 
members  have  been  separated  from  one  whose  long  asso- 
ciation with  them  leaves  only  golden  memories  without 
a  tinge  of  baser  metal. 

The  memorial  was  spoken  to,  in  the  order  named,  by 
Prof.  Colbert,  Treasurer  H.  C.  Ranney,  President  Johnson, 
Secretary  C.  H.  S.  Mixer,  Hon.  Charles  G.  Wicker,  and 
Prof.  G.  W.  Hough.  The  first  speaker  gave  a  brief  his- 
torical sketch  of  the  connection  of  Mr.  Wells  with  the 
society,  and  dwelt  with  special  emphasis  on  the  great  ser- 
vice he  had  rendered  in  preventing  them  from  being  misled 
at  the  inception  of  the  movement.  A  copy  of  the  above 
action  was  suitably  engrossed  by  the  secretary  and  pre- 
sented to  Mrs.  Wells.  Also  a  committee  waited  upon  her 
with  a  request  for  a  portrait  of  the  deceased  to  be  framed 
and  placed  in  the  Dearborn  Observatory,  if  the  result  of 
the  pending  suit  against  the  University  were  not  adverse 
to  the  Astronomical  Society. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  91 

A  meeting  of  the  Chicago  Academy  of  Sciences  was 
held  March  10,  1885,  L.  B.  Otis,  Esq.,  in  the  chair.  Hon. 
William  Bross  and  Prof.  Colbert  were  appointed  a  com- 
mittee to  prepare  suitable  resolutions  on  the  death  of  Mr. 
Wells.  They  reported  the  following,  which  were  unani- 
mously adopted: 

The  Chicago  Academy  of  Sciences  is  called  upon  to 
mourn  the  demise  of  its  late  vice-president,  William 
Harvey  Weils. 

By  his  death  the  academy  has  lost  a  distinguished 
member,  one  whose  labors  had  achieved  for  him  a  high 
place  as  a  worker  for  the  advancement  of  the  science  of 
astronomy,  of  elementary  education,  of  philology,  and  the 
not  less  noble  science  of  philanthropy.  Identified  with 
Chicago  for  very  nearly  thirty  years,  he  saw  the  city 
develop  from  the  phase  of  childhood  to  that  of  the  adult 
growth  of  today,  and  was  privileged  to  shape  and  direct, 
to  a  very  important  extent,  the  mental  part  of  that 
development. 

Resolved,  That  this  expression  of  esteem  for  his  memory 
be  spread  upon  the  records  of  the  academy,  and  that  a 
properly  certified  copy  thereof  be  furnished  to  his  afflicted 
widow. 

The  following  paper  was  presented  by  Prof.  Colbert: 

The  path  which  our  departed  friend  traveled  while 
among  us  is  an  enduring  one.  It  may  be  true  that  even 
those  of  us  who  are  privileged  to  make  the  greatest  im- 
pressions upon  the  race  and  most  influence  its  thought 
and  action  only  leave  "  footprints  on  the  sands  of  time."1 
But  some  of  those  footprints  are  preserved  in  the  slowly- 
formed  rock  through  the  lapse  of  untold  centuries,  and 
reveal  to  the  people  of  a  later  age  previously  unopened 
pages  in  the  great  book  of  knowledge  which  lies  upon  the 
bosom  of  our  common  mother — Earth.  It  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  he  has  left  his  imprints  rather  upon 
plastic  clay  than  on  the  treacherous  sand,  and  that  k  has 


92  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

already  entered  upon  the  phase  of  solidification  which  will 
preserve  them  into  the  far  distant  future  more  perfectly 
than  if  they  were  now  graven  deep  in  marble.  His  efforts 
in  the  direction  of  educating  the  masses  up  to  the  point 
where  they  can  understand  and  appreciate  scientific  truth 
when  properly  presented,  and  in  aiding  more  directly, 
though  not  more  beneficially,  the  work  of  original  investi- 
gation, should  endear  him  in  the  memory  of  the  scientific 
world,  as  his  Christian  work  and  his  efforts  to  reform  fallen 
humanity  have  enshrined  him  in  the  hearts  of  his  fellow 
church-members  and  associate  philanthropists.  Only  those 
who  were  privileged  to  know  him  closely  could  form  any- 
thing like  a  correct  estimate  of  his  untiring  industry,  his 
wide  range  of  information,  and  the  sterling  conscientious- 
ness that  led  him  to  regard  accuracy  as  equally  important 
in  little  things  and  in  great  ones.  Whether  working  for 
the  children  proper  or  for  those  of  larger  growth,  whether 
teaching  the  mere  alphabet  of  the  language  or  maturing 
plans  for  extending  the  area  of  scientific  research,  he  was 
equally  at  home  with  the  subject,  equally  eafnest  in  the 
work,  equally  and  entirely  single-minded  in  regard  to  the 
end  to  be  attained;  and  that  end  a  benefit,  not  to  himself, 
but  to  others. 

I  think  I  never  met  a  man  who  obtruded  himself  less 
into  his  dealings  with  others,  who  was  more  candid  in 
everything  except  in  the  telling  of  secrets  not  his  own,  or 
who  was  more  willing  to  yield  his  personal  preferences, 
and  at  the  same  time  as  firm  and  steadfast  in  his  adhe- 
rence to  what  he  believed  to  be  the  right  where  the  matter 
-at  issue  involved  a  principle.  In  the  latter  case  he  was 
unyielding  as  a  rock. 

How  grandly  such  a  character  and  career  as  his  stand 
•out  in  contrast  with  those  of  many  whom  the  world  has 
called  great!  *  *  *  The  aims  and  efforts  of  our  de- 
parted friend  were  worthy  of  a  messenger  from  the  higher 
spheres.  Indeed,  the  death  of  such  a  man  is  enough  to 
suggest  to  the  most  stubborn  materialist  the  possibility  of 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  93 

a  hereafter.  It  needs  very  little  of  faith  to  see  his  path- 
way among  us  yet  shining  with  a  lambent  light,  and,  like 
a  moonbeam  on  the  still  waters,  stretching  away  into  the 
distance  till  it  seems  to  end  among  the  stars,  where  we 
may  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  golden  portals  through  which 
his  spirit  has  vanished  in  its  flight  toward  the  bosom  of 
the  Infinit.  Let  me  say  that  I  can  not  but  regard  the 
career  of  such  a  man  as  William  H.  Wells  as  furnishing 
the  strongest  known  scientific  argument  in  favor  of  the 
persistence  of  the  individuality  after  death — at  least  for 
those  who  have  proved  themselves  the  fittest  to  survive. 
It  is  closely  con-se-quent  on  the  now  widely -accepted 
doctrine  of  material  evolution.  We  may  even  find  its 
suggestion  in  the  geological  fact  that  here  and  there  a 
material  form  is  preserved  intact  through  thousands  of 
centuries,  while  all  around  it  is  ground  to  dust  or  reduced 
to  mud,  which  afterward  goes  to  form  other  specialties  of 
existence. 

However  much  we  may  differ  with  regard  to  the  value 
of  that  simile,  there  is  one  point  in  which  we  shall  all 
agree.  The  most  perfect  day  in  the  history  of  a  human 
life  is  one  in  which  the  individual  is  permitted  to  labor  at 
tasks  agreeable  to  himself,  with  results  that  are  useful  to 
others  and  hurtful  to  none — to  finish  the  hard  work  in  time 
to  enjoy  a  substantial  evening  of  more  leisurely  mental  oc- 
cupation before  retiring  to  rest — to  sit  awhile  in  the  easy 
chair  of  contentment  while  the  evening  shades  are  falling, 
calmly  reviewing  the- events  of  the  day,  discovering  few 
mistakes,  and  those  minor  ones — noting  how  here  and 
there  he  has  helped  a  less  fortunate  brother  to  bear  his 
burden  more  easily,  and  seeing  cause  to  believe  that  the 
work  achieved  is  a  substantial  item  in  the  aggregation  of 
toil  that  produces  a  result  of  great  value  to  the  world.  So 
with  that  span  of  earthly  existence  of  which  the  day  is  at 
once  an  integral  part  and  a  copy  in  minature.  And,  most 
emphatically,  the  life  of  Mr.  Wells  is  represented  by  such 
a  day,  with  a  soft  twilight  preceding  and  letting  descend 


94  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

gently  the  pall  of  darkness  that  now  hides  the  man  from 
our  vision,  though  his  work  remains  a  living  epistle  to  be 
known  and  read  by  all  men. 

Gov.  Bross  addressed  the  Academy  briefly.  His  re- 
marks were  not  written  out  until  after  the  meeting,  but  he 
spoke  substantially  as  follows: 

"  I  can  say  little  more  than  that  I  heartily  concur  in  the 
statements  in  the  paper  read  by  Prof.  Colbert.  I  have 
known  Mr.  Wells,  the  late  vice-president  of  this  Academy, 
from  the  date  of  his  coming  to  the  city;  most  of  the  time, 
I  can  say,  quite  intimately,  till  we  have  been  forced  to 
part  with  him  in  this  life  forever.  No  man  on  the  list  of 
my  acquaintances  ever  fulfilled  all  the  duties  of  friend, 
citizen,  and  Christian  gentleman  with  greater  courtesy 
and  kindness  than  did  William  H.  Wells.  He  was  a  man 
whom  society,  and  our  educational  and  scientific  institu- 
tions could  illy  afford  to  spare.  And  yet  his  work  was 
done,  and  done  well;  and  we  know  that  his  reward  is  sure. 
Blessings  be  upon  his  memory." 


MRS.  WILLIAM  H.  WELLS  AND  FAMILY:  —  We,  the 
undersigned,  teachers  in  the  public  schools  of  Chicago 
during  the  superintendency  of  William  H.  Wells,  desire 
to  express  to  you  our  heartfelt  sympathy  in  your  bereave- 
ment, our  affection  for  him  as  a  friend  and  co-worker,  and 
our  high  appreciation  of  him  as  a  public  officer  and  a 
pure-minded,  honest  man. 

We  well  remember  when  he  first  came  to  Chicago  to 
commence  his  labors  with  us,  his  kindly  greetings  and 
warm  friendship,  his  words  of  cheer,  his  intense  zeal  and 
enthusiasm,  early  impressed  us  with  admiration  of  him  as 
a  leader  in  educational  work. 

We  have  many  pleasant  memories  of  his  kind  words 
and  acts  in  times  of  trouble  and  difficulties. 

Chicago  owes  to  Mr.  Wells  a  debt  of  gratitude. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  95 

Our  public-school  system  was  organized  and  perfected 
in  a  great  degree  by  his  thorough  encyclopedic  knowledge 
•of  everything  pertaining  to  the  development  of  schools 
and  by  his  tireless  energy. 

Thousands  of  our  people  are  wiser  and  purer  for  his  life 
and  services  among  us. 

While  we  can  not  mourn  his  loss  as  those  of  his  own 
household,  yet  he  has  presented  to  us  many  noble  and 
inspiring  examples  and  dear  and  cherished  memories. 

GEORGE  E.  ADAMS,  WILLARD  WQODARD, 

GEORGE  D.  BROOMELL,  GEORGE  ROWLAND, 

B.  D.  SLOCUM,  ALBERT  G.  LANE, 

F.  S.  HEYWOOD,  E.  C.  DELANO, 

ALICE  L.  BARNARD,  J.  SLOCUM, 

ELSIE  H.  GOULD,  A.  N.  MERRIMAN, 

MARIA  L.  W.  WALSH,  A.  H.  VAN  ZWOLL, 

HELEN  A.  BUTLER,  HELEN  CULVER, 
ANNIE  HENNICOTT  CULVER  Mrs.  J.  G.  SMYTHE, 

CHARLES  F.  BABCOCK,  v  O.  BLACKMAN, 
ELLEN  CHAPIN  BROOMELL,  JULIA  G.  VERNON, 

ANN  E.  WINCHELL,  ANNIE  E.  TRIMINGHAM, 

CARRIE  M.  EDWARDS,  ELLEN  J.  BAKER, 

NAOMI  DOUGALL,  «  EMMA  HOOKE, 

ELIZA  LUNDEGREEN,  HELEN  N.  SLOCUM, 

CLARA  P.  MAHONEY,  MARY  WATERMAN  LEWIS. 
JOHN  F.  EBERHART, 


The  following  was  adopted  at  a  meeting  of  the  Wash- 
ingtonian  Association,  held  Jan.  11,  1886: 

During  the  past  year  one  of  our  most  zealous,  active, 
and  useful  members  has  been  removed  by  death  —  our 
friend  and  brother,  Hon.  William  H.  Wells.  He  had 
indeed  passed  the  limit  of  threescore  years  and  ten,  and 
death  came  not  unforewarned,  but  to  us  who  honored  and 
loved  him,  none  the  less  unwelcome.  It  came  while  he 


96  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

was  still  useful  in  many  ways,  in  society,  in  church,  in 
business,  and  in  the  special  cause  in  which  we  are  engaged. 
It  is  fitting  that  we  place  on  record  this  estimation  of  a 
good  man,  and  that  we  declare  that  we  have  lost  an  ear- 
nest worker  in  the  cause  of  temperance,  a  wise  and  exper- 
ienced adviser,  a  faithful  officer  of  the  Home  for  many 
years,  and  a  citizen  always  ready  for  any  good  word  and 
work. 


The  following  are  extracts  from  letters  received  by  Mrs. 
W.  after  Mr.  Wells  had  passed  away: 

From  Rev.  H.  B.  Holmes,  St.  Louis,  Mo.: 

It  is  an  unusual  Providence  that  removes  husband  and 
son  in  the  same  year;  still  more  unusual  that  such  a  hus- 
band and  son  are  found  in  any  house. 

My  acquaintance  with  your  son  was  slight,  but  sufficient 
to  justify  a  mother's  ardent  love  and  hope,  for  he  was 
fitted  by  talents  and  attainments  for  eminent  usefulness. 
Mr.  Wells  I  knew  more  intimately  and  for  many  years. 
He  was  a  true  friend,  never  saying  one  thing  and  meaning 
another.  He  was  a  kind  friend;  everyone  dependent  on 
him  would  bear  witness  here.  He  was  a  very  wise  friend; 
he  seemed  intuitively  to  understand  what  the  case  de- 
manded; and  he  was  a  friend  whose  truth,  and  kindness,. 
and  wisdom  extended  to  every  department  of  life.  Liter- 
ature, science,  business,  religion — he  was  at  home  in  them 
all,  and  thus  he  proved  himself  one  whose  counsel  and 
aid  were  so  much  sought  after  and  so  highly  valued,  and 
whose  judgment  and  wisdom  exerted  a  very  decided  in- 
fluence in  every  department  of  life. 

To  part  with  such  an  one  was  no  common  sorrow;  to 
have  such  an  one  to  part  with  was  no  common  privilege. 

From  Rev.  Henry  C.  Graves,  Haverhill,  Mass.: 

My  heart  has  been  with  you  every  moment  since  the 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  97 

sad  news  came.  How  I  loved  him!  I  was  proud  of  him, 
and  always  found  him  a  most  appreciative,  affectionate, 
thoughtful  friend.  Much  of  my  own  human  support  is 
gone  with  his  departure. 

It  is  a  rash  thing  for  me  to  attempt  to  say  one  word 
that  will  give  you  comfort,  when  no  human  word  can  be 
the  potent  Christ-word,  "  Come  forth."  That,  in  the  hour 
when  sense  of  loss  overwhelms,  is  the  only  word  of  com- 
fort and  peace.  But  I  venture  to  say  to  you  that  what  he 
was,  and  what  he  is,  and  what  he  ever  will  be,  is  source  of 
inspiration  and  blessing.  It  is  rare  to  find  a  life  more 
complete  than  his;  the  memory  of  it  is  precious;  that  can 
not  fail;  to  have  been  is  to  be  and  to  abide  forever;  im- 
mortality becomes  a  reality  the  moment  our  beloved  are 
out  of  sight.  We  know  they  are  because  they  have  been. 
His  was  a  full -rounded  life,  and  well  fitted  for  a  better 
world ;  his  well-developed  spirit  had  outgrown  this  earth's 
limitations;  it  was  meet  and  gracious  in  the  Lord  of  life 
and  glory  to  take  him  whom  he  had  fitted  for  himself  into 
closer  fellowship.  I  mourn  him  not  who  is  at  rest  beside 
the  Father's  throne,  and  in  the  company  of  the  well  be- 
loved. His  busy  searchings  now  will  find  rich  answers  to 
many  unsolved  doubts,  and  he  will  find  in  grandest  range 
all  possibilities  of  thought  and  hope. 

But  how  can  all  this  be  for  you,  so  long  with  him,  now 
apart  ? 

From  Prof.  Edward  A.  Peck,  Andover: 

I  am  pained  to  learn  of  the  death  of  Mr.  Wells.  He 
was  a  man  of  remarkable  gifts  and  of  sound  principles.  I 
have  been  much  interested  in  the  obituary  notices  which 
you  sent  me.  I  gave  them  to  the  editor  of  the  Lawrence 
American,  who  will  make  a  suitable  notice  of  them  in  his 
paper.  I  have  also  sent  these  to  my  son  in  Gloversville> 
N.Y.,  who  was  a  particular  friend  of  Mr.  W. 


98  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

From  Prof.  J.  P.  Covvles,  Ipswich: 

You  can  not  doubt  that  I  share  in  the  universal  sorrow 
which  you,  more  than  any  other,  must  feel  in  the  stroke 
which  has  taken  from  your  side  a  dear  and  honored  hus- 
band. I  have  read  the  sympathetic  testimonials  which 
you  have  sent  us,  of  which,  high  as  they  are,  no  one  can 
say  they  are  too  high.  Nothing  is  there  exaggerated.  I 
knew  his  great  mental  activity,  his  ready  absorption  in 
every  great  educational  enterprise,  his  eminent  practical 
wisdom,  and  uncommon  facility  of  labor.  He  was  a  friend, 
lovely  and  admirable ;  a  scholar,  apt  and  delightful  to 
meet ;  a  gentleman  of  accomplished  manners,  of  honor 
untarnished,  and  which  no  one  could  think  ever  would  be 
tarnished.  Great  is  your  loss,  indeed.  I  sympathize  with 
you,  and  congratulate  you  that  you  have  children  to  share 
it,  each  a  memento  of  much  that  was  dear  in  him. 

From  Mrs.  E.  C.  Cowles,  Ipswich: 

The  notices  are  as  satisfactory  as  you  could  expect. 
They  fall  short  of  what  he  was.  He  was  beyond  the  com- 
prehension of  many  men  of  business;  he  had  nothing  in 
common  with  their  peculiar  genius;  his  heart  and  mind 
were  set  on  other  things.  Money  was  nothing  to  him  but 
as  a  means  of  advancing  education,  and  education  nothing 
but  a  means  of  lifting  his  fellow-beings  to  loftier  heights. 
With  him  religion  and  education  blended.  It  seems 
strange  to  me  he  could  be  so  willing  to  go,  he  seems  to 
me  so  young!  I  have  never  seen  him  since  time  touched 
him.  He  was  a  rare  man.  I  feel  a  full  sense  of  what 
both  you  and  yours  and  the  world  have  lost  in  such  a 
husband,  father,  and  friend.' 

From  Charles  Hutchins,  I  Somerset  St.,  Boston: 

I  love  to  think  of  the  early  days  of  Mr.  Wells  so  full  of 
words  so  helpful  to  all  young  men.  For  more  than  forty 
years  I  have  known  and  sincerely  loved  Mr.  Wells.  I 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  99 

sorrow  with  you  at  the  loss  here,  and  rejoice  also  with  you 
at  the  certainty  of  meeting  him  again, 

From  Rufus  C.  Hartranft,  1429  Market  St.,  Philadel- 
phia, editor  "  Happy  Hours  at  Home": 

I  am  greatly  surprised  to  hear  of  Mr.  Wells'  death.  He 
was  a  dear,  good  man,  and  I  will  remember  him  with  a 
tender  memory.  He  was  kind  to  me  when  I  needed  kind- 
ness most. 

From  a  pupil : 

I  had  already  heard  of  your  great  bereavement,  and 
know  full  well  through  what  deep  waters  you  are  now 
passing.  The  memory  of  one  who  did  so  much  for  us  all, 
who  were  under  his  care,  can  never  fade  as  long  as  one  of 
his  pupils  exists.  He  came  among  us  daily,  bright,  fresh, 
and  invigorating,  rousing  us  to  greater  energy  and  higher 
hope. 

From  a  pupil: 

He  can  never  be  dead  to  me,  for  all  my  life,  since  he 
became  my  teacher,  has  been  directed  and  moulded  by 
the  moral  influence  and  intellectual  stimulus  which  I  re- 
ceived from  him.  It  can  never  become  inoperative  or  I 
ungrateful.  I  have  never  seen  his  equal  as  an  instructor, 
nor  have  I  ever  known  so  masterly  a  builder  of  character. 
Thousands  of  grateful  hearts  will  kindle  with  reawakened 
love  and  reverence  at  the  mention  of  his  name. 

His  high  example  remains,  and  the  soul  that  inspired  it 
awaits  us  in  nobler  spheres.  Why  should  we  mourn  ? 
Such  activity  as  his  can  never  cease;  and  yet  to  his  chil- 
dren, his  wife,  and  his  home  circle,  the  event  is  an  inevita- 
ble bereavement,  and  your  hearts,  as  his  was,  were  already 
sore  with  a  heavy  stroke.  I  offer  you  my  heartfelt  sym- 
pathy. He  was  a  tender  father  I  know;  I  have  seen  him 
weep  for  two  sons,  and  I  know  how  closely  he  was  bound 
to  his  own. 


100  WILLIAM    HARVEY    WP:LLS. 

Prof.  E.  C.  Hewitt,  president  of  the  Illinois  State  Nor- 
mal University,  wrote  as  follows: 

Hon.  W.  H.  Wells  was  one  of  the  original  members 
of  the  Illinois  State  Board  of  Education  —  the  duty  of 
said  Board  being  to  act  as  trustees  for  this  Institution. 
He,  with  thirteen  other  gentlemen,  was  named  in  the  Act 
creating  the  Institution,  passed  in  February,  1857. 

He  served  on  the  Board  for  many  years — twelve,  I 
think — and  had  much  to  do  in  laying  the  foundations  of 
our  work  here  and  in  giving  it  shape.  Prudent,  faithful, 
and  wise  in  matters  of  education,  his  services  were  of  great 
value,  and  they  are  thankfully  remembered  by  his  co- 
workers  and  associates. 


A  memorial  paper  on  the  life  and  work  of  Mr.  Wells 
was  read  by  Prof.  James  Hannan  at  Springfield,  Illinois, 
Dec.  29,  1885,  before  the  State  Teachers'  Association.  It 
comprised  a  biographical  sketch  preceding  the  following 
remarks: 

On  the  Wednesday  evening  of  Holiday  week  three 
years  ago,  in  the  opening  sentences  of  an  address  to  this 
association,  in  this  city,  in  speaking  of  himself,  Mr.  Wells 
said:  "Fifty-one  years  ago,  the  son  of  a  New-England 
farmer,  something  more  than  boy  and  something  less 
than  man,  commenced  his  educational  life  teaching  a 
district  school.  *  *  *  Tonight  he  looks  back  over 
a  period  that  records  almost  the  entire  history  of  edu- 
cational progress  in  this  country." 

These  sentences,  at  once  humorous  and  pathetic  in 
connection  with  the  very  meagre  outline  of  his  life  which 
has  been  given,  enable  us  to  realize  in  some  measure 
what  he  did  for  himself,  and  to  perceive  dimly  how 
closely  he  was  connected  with  that  progress  which  he 
so  clearly  saw  and  so  hopefully  appreciated.  On  this 
topic  and  in  this  presence,  analysis  and  eulogy  are  alike 
unnecessary. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  IOI 

Mr.  Wells  came  to  Chicago  at  a  critical  time  in  the 
history  of  its  schools.  The  Board  of  Education  was  wise 
enough  to  apprehend  to  some  extent  the  wondrous  des- 
tiny of  the  young  city,  and  it  would  have  her  schools 
worthy  of  that  destiny.  After  a  careful  survey  of  the 
field,  a  call  was  extended  to  Mr.  Wells  to  come  and  take 
up  the  work.  It  was  a  happy  choice.  The  districting 
of  the  city  was  perfected;  the  high-school  was  organ- 
ized; the  great  principle  of  the  division  of  labor  was 
applied  to  the  school  work  with  a  practical  and  effective 
wisdom  that  not  only  accomplished  magnificent  results, 
but  made  the  accomplishment  of  still  more  magnificent 
results  inevitable. 

Like  all  earnest  and  intelligent  students  of  the  educa- 
tional problem,  he  had  seen  that  the  first  imperative 
necessity  was  a  supply  of  competent  teachers.  Accord- 
ingly, coincident  with  the  establishment  of  the  high- 
school,  there  was  organized  a  normal  department  for  the 
preparation  of  teachers.  Thus  was  set  in  motion,  in  a 
prompt  and  intelligent  way,  machinery  containing  all 
the  essential  elements  of  a  perfect  school -system.  The 
schools  were  graded.  The  high  school,  as  an  inspirer 
and  a  goal  for  pupils  in  all  the  grades  below,  was  firmly 
and  permanently  established.  The  normal  school  began 
to  turn  out  annually  a  picked  class  of  teachers,  formally 
and  carefully  prepared  for  the  special  work  to  be  done 
in  the  city  schools.  New  and  improved  school  buildings 
rose  on  every  hand.  All  the  school  virtues  grew  day  by 
day.  The  proportion  of  the  school  population  in  attend- 
ance perceptibly  and  notably  increased.  Regularity  and 
punctuality  became  phenomenal.  Deportment  and  schol- 
arship approached  more  and  more  near  to  perfection. 
The  scheme  of  organization  led  gradually  to  increased 
and  more  skilful  supervision.  Meantime  the  population 
was  increasing  in  an  unprecedented  ratio.  During  his 
term  of  office,  the  daily  membership  of  the  schools  rose 
from  nearly  4000  to  12,000.  Thus,  in  the  midst  of  enor- 


102  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

mous  material  demands,  all  these  vital  pedagogical  facts 
were  accomplished.  And  the  constant  adviser  and  guide 
and,  in  an  important  sense,  provider  of  all  was  the  unos- 
tentatious and  always  modest  superintendent. 

In  accomplishing  these  things,  he  never  forsook  his 
manliness,  nor.  merited  the  slightest  impeachment  of  his 
veracity-;  he  never  descended  to  intrigue;  he  never  in- 
voked the  passions  of  the  partisan,  and  was  never  willing 
to  base  educational  work  on  that  most  capricious  and 
insecure  foundation.  He  was  frank  and  honest  in  his 
statements  of  plans  and  of  the  needs  and  requirements 
of  the  schools,  and  if  he  sometimes  failed  to  secure  them 
all  he  took  what  he  could  get,  made  the  best  of  it,  and 
bided  his  time. 

More  than  most  men,  ready,  willing,  nay,  anxious  to 
yield  to  others  in  non-essential  and  merely  personal  mat- 
ters, he  was  firm  as  a  rock  in  matters  of  principle. 
Rarely  endowed  with  the  faculty  of  seeing  all  sides  of 
a  question  or  of  a  character,  he  was  most  charitable  to- 
ward the  views  of  others,  chary  of  individual  rights,  and 
was  tender  toward  even  prejudices. 

These  characteristics  were  notable  also  in  his  later 
official  life.  He  was  ever  a  harmonizer — a  peace-maker 
—  a  promoter  and  provider  of  wise  and  far-reaching 
agencies  for  the  uplifting  and  upbuilding  of  the  intellect 
and  character  of  the  youth  of  Chicago.  Thus  his  last 
important  official  work  was  the  successful  accomplish- 
ment of  measures  to  bring  the  Public  Library  into  more 
intimate  relations  with  the  pupils  of  the  public  schools 
as  such.' 

Such  a  life  and  such  a  career  are  fruitful  subjects  of 
contemplation.  The  principles  and  training  that  devel- 
oped such  a  character  are  worthy  of  respect  and  imita- 
tion. Fellow-teachers,  we  do  well  to  pause  in  our  work 
and,  reverently,  to  offer  homage  to  his  memory! 

The  National  Educator,  in  its  issue  of  Jan.  15,  1886, 
gave  a  short  sketch  of  the  preceding  paper,  and  added: 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH.  103. 

"  Prof.  E.  C.  Hewitt,  of  State  Normal  University,  spoke 
feelingly  of  the  dead  educator,  tracing  a  busy  life  from 
infancy  up  to  ripe  age  and  death.  Short  remarks  were 
made  by  Prof.  Thomas  Metcalf  and  Dr.  Robert  Allyn, 
both  intimate  associates  of  Mr.  Wells  through  many 
years  of  .his  active  life.  The  life  of  Mr.  Wells  is  cer- 
tainly an  example.  At  an  age  when  most  men  quit  the 
pursuits  of  active  life  he  was-  beginning  a  new  career, 
and  with  an  ardent  enthusiasm  that  would  have  shamed 
most  young  men." 


DICTIONARIES. 


May  and  October,  1883,  and  April,  1884,  numbers 
of  "  The  Dial,"  contain  three  articles  from  the  pen  of 
Mr.  Wells  on  the  general  subject  of  dictionaries,  which  at- 
tracted very  wide  attention.  They  deservedly  rank  among 
the  very  best  of  the  contributions  which  have  been  made  to 
the  bibliography  of  this  important  topic,  and  it  is  believed 
that  justice  to  his  memory  demands  their  reproduction  in 
this  volume.  A  few  paragraphs,  which  are  only  of  pass- 
ing interest  have  been  omitted: 

THE  IMPERIAL  DICTIONARY,  AND  DICTIONARY-MAKING. 


The  linguist  Scaliger,  who  was  not  particularly  distin- 
guished for  piety,  is  said  to  have  thanked  God  devoutly 
that  of  his  infinite  goodness  he  had  endowed  some  men 
with  a  special  gift  for  dictionary-making;  and  the  editor 
of  "The  Saturday  Review,"  London,  has  allowed  his  fancy 
to  say,  that  in  a  more  enlightened  age  the  making  of  dic- 
tionaries will  be  assigned  to  convicts.  But  the  ability  to 
discriminate  nice  and  exact  shades  of  meaning  in  the  use 
of  words,  and  to  daguerreotype  these  distinctions  in  hap- 
pily-worded definitions,  is  a  gift  exceedingly  rare;  and  the 
skill  to  discern  all  the  different  shades  of  sound  that  are 
employed  in  speaking,  and  to  represent  them  by  visible 
signs  for  the  guidance  of  others,  is  an  attainment  that  has 
never  yet  been  reached.  If  there  is  any  just  ground  for 
Carlyle's  idea  of  genius,  "transcendent  capacity  of  taking 
trouble,"  then  should  the  names  of  Bailey,  and  Johnson, 
and  Webster,  and  Worcester,  and  Ogilvie,  be  ranked  with 
those  of  the  poets,  and  historians,  and  novelists,  and  scien- 
tists, whom  we  delight  to  honor. 
8  105 


106  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

The  original  edition  of  the  Imperial  Dictionary  was- 
based  on  the  Dictionary  of  Dr.  Webster,  and  published  in 
1850;  but  Dr.  Ogilvie  introduced  many  important  modifi- 
cations and  added  a  large  amount  of  new  matter.  The 
present  edition  is  so  greatly  changed  that  it  is  substan- 
tially a  new  work. 

The  American  reprint,  by  The  Century  Company  of 
New  York,  is  a  verbatim  copy  of  the  English  edition ;  but 
the  preface  is  marred  by  omitting  that  portion  which 
acknowledges  the  aid  derived  from  Webster.  This  does 
injustice  to  the  editor,  who  inserted  it,  and  does  a  great 
wrong  to  Dr.  Webster,  whose  aid  should  have  been  dis- 
tinctly recognized. 

The  work  has  been  ably  edited  by  Charles  Annandale,. 
whose  labors  have  been  largely  those  of  an  original  author 
and  compiler.  The  vocabulary  has  been  enlarged  by  the 
introduction  of  additional  words  belonging  to  technology 
and  the  arts  and  sciences,  words  employed  by  early  Eng- 
lish writers,  Scotch  words,  and  colloquialisms,  and  by 
adding  many  thousand  illustrative  quotations.  The  ency- 
clopaedic method  of  treatment  has  been  carried  to  a  much 
greater  extent  than  in  the  previous  edition,  and  the  etymo- 
logical portion  of  the  work  has  been  entirely  remodelled. 

Pictorial  Illustrations. — There  are  large  classes  of  words 
that  are  better  defined  by  pictorial  illustrations  than  by 
written  descriptions.  The  first  dawning  of  this  auxiliary 
method  of  defining  words  that  I  have  been  able  to  find,  is 
in  the  dictionary  of  Thomas  Blount,  1656,  in  which  three 
simple  cuts  are  introduced  to  illustrate  certain  parts  of  an 
escutcheon.  In  1690,  John  Locke  discussed  the  requisites 
of  a  dictionary  in  his  "  Essay  on  the  Human  Under- 
standing," and  proposed  that  "  words  standing  for  things 
which  are  known  and  distinguished  by  their  outward 
shapes,  should  be  expressed  by  little  draughts  and  prints 
made  of  them."  In  1707,  a  dictionary  was  published 
anonymously  which  contained  over  fifty  cuts  illustrating 
different  words  th#t  relate  to  heraldry.  The  first  general 


DICTIONARIES.  IO/ 

introduction  of  cuts  was  in  the  second  volume  of  Bailey's 
Dictionary,  1726,  which  contained  over  five  hundred  pic- 
torial illustrations.  It  is  remarkable  that  an  auxiliary 
method  of  defining,  so  valuable  and  important,  should 
have  been  successfully  introduced  by  Bailey  at  that  early 
date,  and  then  allowed  to  pass  into  disuse  for  more 
than  a  hundred  years.  During  all  this  period,  the  only 
examples  that  I  can  find  are  copper-plate  illustrations  of 
mathematical  terms  in  Martin's  Dictionary,  1749,  and 
nineteen  full-page  engravings  in  Barlow's  Dictionary,  1772. 

The  Imperial  Dictionary  revived  the  pictorial  method 
and  introduced  over  two  thousand  illustrative  cuts.  In 
1859,  the  publishers  of  Webster's  Dictionary  adopted  the 
same  method,  and  copied  a  large  portion  of  the  illustra- 
tions found  in  Ogilvie,  for  which  due  credit  was  given. 
In  later  editions  of  Webster,  new  and  original  illustrations 
have  been  employed,  and  the  number  has  been  greatly 
increased.  In  the  new  edition  of  the  Imperial,  the  pic- 
torial illustrations  have  also  been  extended  and  improved. 

Definitions. — The  most  important  practical  use  of  a  dic- 
tionary is  in  consulting  its  definitions,  and  the  first  inquiry 
in  relation  to  the  merits  of  a  new  dictionary  is  naturally^ 
directed  to  this  point.  The  definitions  of  Ogilvie  are 
largely  copied  from  those  of  Webster;  but  it  is  also  true 
that  a  large  portion  of  Webster's  definitions  are  copied, 
either  directly  or  in  a  modified  form,  from  those  of  pre- 
vious authors.  In  deciding  how  far  Webster  is  entitled  to 
the  credit  of  Ogilvie's  definitions,  it  is  necessary  to  ascer- 
tain how  far  the  definitions  found  in  both  works  are  also, 
found  in  works  that  preceded  both. 

In  tracing  the  definitions  of  a  number  of  words  through 
one  hundred  and  thirty  different  English  dictionaries,  from 
1616  to  1883,  I  have  been  surprised  to  find  how  small  a 
portion  of  the  whole  number  of  authors  have  furnished  the 
capital  which  has  served  for  themselves  and  all  the  rest. 
Let  us  take,  for  example,  the  word  abstruse,  and  compare, 
a  sufficient  number  of  definitions  to  illustrate  this  point. 


108  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

Bnllokar,  1616:  "  Hidden,  secret,  not  easy  to  be  under- 
stood." 

This  definition  is  copied  verbatim  by  Cockeram,  1623, 
and  is  the  basis  of  nearly  all  the  definitions  given  to  this 
word  during  the  next  hundred  years.  The  only  authors 
entitled  to  credit  for  additions  and  improvements  during 
this  period,  so  far  as  I  can  discover,  are  Blount,  1656, 
Phillips  (nephew  of  Milton),  1658,  and  Kersey,  1708. 

The  appearance  of  Bailey's  Dictionary,  in  1721,  marks 
an  important  era  in  English  lexicography. 

Bailey,  folio  edition,  1730:  "Obscure,  dark,  not  easy  to 
be  understood,  deep,  hidden,  or  far  removed  from  the 
common  apprehensions  or  ways  of  conceiving." 

Dyche,  2d  ed.,  IJ3J:  "  Difficult,  dark,  obscure,  not  easy 
to  be  understood." 

Martin,  1749,  added  a  considerable  number  of  useful 
definitions,  and  Dr.  Johnson's  celebrated  dictionary  soon 
followed. 

Johnson,  1755:  "i.  Hidden.  2.  Difficult,  remote  from 
conception  or  apprehension.  It  is  opposed  to  obvious  and 
vasy" 

During  the  next  seventy-three  years,  from  Johnson  to 
Webster,  many  additions  and  some  improvements  were 
introduced  by  Penning,  1761,  Barlow,  1772,  Ash,  1775, 
and  a  few  other  authors. 

Todd's  Johnson,  1818:  "i.  Hidden,  remote  from  view. 
2.  Difficult,  remote  from  conception  or  apprehension,  (op- 
posed to  obvious  and  easy.)" 

Webster,  1879:  "i.  Concealed  or  hidden.  2.  Remote 
from  apprehension;  difficult  to  be  comprehended  or  under- 
.stood." 

Worcester,  1881 :  "Remote  from  conception,  apprehen- 
sion, or  view;  difficult  to  be  comprehended  or  understood; 
obscure;  not  plain." 

Imperial  Dictionary,  1882:  "i.  Withdrawn  from  view; 
out  of  the  way;  concealed.  2.  Remote  from  apprehen- 
sion ;  difficult  to  be  comprehended  or  understood ;  pro- 
found; opposed  to  what  is  obvious." 


DICTIONARIES.  IOQ 

I  have  here  copied  definitions  of  the  word  abstruse  from 
only  five  different  authors  that  preceded  Webster,  but  they 
suffice  to  show  that  Webster,  and  Worcester,  and  Ogilvie, 
are  all  largely  indebted  to  their  predecessors,  and  that  the 
main  features  of  Bullokar's  definition,  which  was  written 
more  than  two  and  a-half  centuries  ago,  are  still  retained. 
Other  examples  would  show  different  relative  degrees  of 
originality,  but  the  same  general  dependence  of  recent 
authors  upon  the  labors  of  those  who  have  gone  before 
them. 

A  careful  review  of  the  whole  field  justifies  the  follow- 
ing statement :  Bailey  stands  out  conspicuous  as  the 
author  of  a  large  number  of  clear,  concise,  and  well- 
written  definitions.  Johnson  added  many  new  and  orig- 
inal definitions,  often  heavily  worded,  but  discriminating 
different  shades  of  meaning  with  accuracy  and  exactness. 
Worcester  was  distinguished  for  great  industry  and  sound 
practical  judgment  in  selecting  and  originating  definitions 
that  are  adapted  to  meet  the  wants  of  all  classes..  He 
had  a  happy  faculty  of  modifying  and  improving  the  defi- 
nitions which  he  adopted  from  his  predecessors.  Webster 
came  into  the  world  with  a  special  mission  to  construct 
definitions,  and  he  now  ranks  as  the  best  definer  that  has 
yet  appeared  on  either  side  of  the  Atlantic.  The  defini- 
tions of  Webster  have  been  largely  extended  and  im- 
proved by  the  editorial  labors  of  Goodrich  and  Porter,  and 
the  definitions  of  Worcester  have  also  received  some  im- 
provements since  his  death.  Standng  on  the  shoulders  of 
all  these  authors,  and  with  the  rich  fruits  of  their  labors  at 
command,  Ogilvie  and  Annandale  have  made  a  fresh  sur- 
vey of  the  whole  field,  drawn  largely  from  the  definitions 
of  Webster,  Johnson,  and  others,  and  added  many  valuable 
improvements  of  their  own. 

Pronunciation. — There  is  no  other  part  of  dictionary 
work  that  so  imperatively  demands  reform  as  that  of  pro- 
nunciation, and  I  regret  to  find  that  the  influence  of  the 
Imperial,  in  its  improved  form  will  be  rather  to  perpetuate 


110  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

the  errors  of  preceding  works  than  to  correct  them.  Dr. 
Webster,  in  his  quarto  dictionary,  published  in  1828,  says: 

"  From  all  the  observations  I  have  been  able  to  make, 
I  am  convinced  that  the  dictionaries  and  grammars  which 
have  been  used  in  our  seminaries  of  learning,  for  the  last 
forty  or  fifty  years,  are  so  incorrect  and  imperfect  that 
they  have  introduced  or  sanctioned  more  errors  than  they 
have  amended," 

This  is  an  exaggerated  statement,  but  it  emphasizes  an 
important  truth,  that  false  teaching  in  a  dictionary  does 
incalculable  harm  to  those  who  follow  its  direction.  It  is 
stated  in  the  preface  to  the  Imperial  that  "the  prounucia- 
tion  has  been  inserted  throughout  according  to  the  best 
usage,"  but  it  can  be  easily  shown  that  the  pronunciation 
of  very  many  words  has  been  given  according  to  Walker 
and  against  the  best  usage.  The  notation  of  the  Imperial 
recognizes  only  four  sounds  of  a,  and  yet  there  is  not  a 
reputable  speaker  in  England  or  America  who  does  not 
in  the  use  of  a  make  more  than  four  distinctions  of  sound 
that  are  palpable  to  the  ear. 

B.  H.  Smart,  one  of  the  most  accurate  and  reliable  of 
British  orthoepists,  who  devoted  much  time  to  the  study 
of  London  pronunciation,  says  the  exact  sound  of  a  in  the 
class  of  words  represented  by  grass,  graft,  plant,  command, 
in  every  instance,  lies  between  the  broad  sound  of  a  in  ah, 
and  the  short  sound  in  man.  Fulton  and  Knight  gave  a 
separate  sound  to  a  in  this  class  of  words  as  early  as  1802, 
and  both  Webster  and  and  Worcester  recognize  it  as  a 
distinct  sound.  Anyone  who  has  a  cultivated  ear  can 
easily  detect  a  difference  between  this  sound  and  that  of 
short  a  by  pronouncing  in  rapid  succession  the  words  man, 
cap,  mat,  glass,  graft,  giving  to  a  in  glass  and  graft  the 
same  sound  as  in  the  preceding  words. 

Walker  himself  admits  that  the  sound  of  a  in  glass,  last, 
etc.,  is  intermediate  between  a  in  ah  and  a  in  at,  or,  as  he 
expresses  it,  "  this  pronunciation  of  a  seems  to  have  been 
for  some  years  advancing  to  the  short  sound  of  this  let- 


DICTIONARIES.  1 1 1 

ter;"  but,  he  adds,  "any  middle  sound  ought  to  be  dis- 
countenanced." 

Walker  had  a  strong  prejudice  against  the  use  of  inter- 
mediate sounds,  and  so  had  the  lord  of  the  beach  against 
the  encroachment  of  the  tide,  but  the  world  went  right 
on  using  these  sounds,  nothwithstanding  Walker's  efforts 
to  hold  them  at  bay.  Such  was  the  influence  of  Walker's 
name  that  Smart  still  marked  grass,  ask,  etc.,  with  the 
;short  sound  of  a,  notwithstanding  his  statement  that  this 
is  not  the  true  sound ;  and  the  Imperial  also  follows 
Walker  and  marks  these  words  with  the  short  sound  of  a. 

So  also  of  o  in  the  class  of  words  represented  by  lost, 
.cloth,  scoff,  frost,  gone,  to  which  the  Imperial  Dictionary 
gives  the  sound  of  0  in  not.  Smart  rightly  says  this  sound 
is  intermediate  between  a  in  aw  and  o  in  not;  and  yet. 
with  the  same  inconsistency  as  before,  marks  these 
•words  with  the  short  sound  of  o.  The  inaccuracy  of  this 
pronunciation  will  be  manifest  to  anyone  who  will  utter 
the  wor.ds  on,  lot,  not,  lost,  gone,  giving  to  o  in  lost  and  gone 
the  same  sound  as  in  the  other  words. 

I  am  aware  that  in  the  treatment  of  this  sound,  the 
•dictionaries  of  Webster  and  Worcester  in  this  country  are 
open  to  the  same  criticism  as  the  Imperial.  Worcester 
marks  it  in  most  words  as  either  o  in  not  or  a  in  aiu,  giv- 
ing the  authorities  for  each  of  the  sounds.  As  the  true 
sound  is  not  either  of  the  two,  but  intermediate  between 
them,  this  is  about  the  same  as  representing  the  number 
three  by  a  choice  between  tivo  and  four. 

Webster,  in  his  Principles  of  Pronunciation,  correctly 
describes  this  sound  of  o  as  follows:  "There  is  a  medium 
sound  of  this  letter  which  is  neither  so  short  as  in  not,  nor 
so  long  as  in  naught."  And  yet  in  his  notation  of  these 
words  he  invaribly  gives  them  either  the  sound  of  o  in  not. 
or  of  a  in  aw.  How  an  author  or  editor  who  has  any  just 
sense  of  his  responsiblity  as  an  educator  can  justify  him- 
•self  in  teaching  by  his  notation  that  o  in  this  class  of 
words  has  the  sound  of  o  in  not,  and  yet  state  in  the  intro- 


112  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

duction  to  the  same  work  that  it  is  not  the  sound  of  o  in? 
not,  but  is  intermediate  between  o  in  not  and  a  in  aw,  is 
past  comprehension.  This  inconsistency  is  somewhat  re- 
lieved in  his  larger  dictionaries  by  a  reference  from  the 
different  words  to  this  modifying  statement,  but  in  the 
Primary  and  Common-School  Dictionaries  this  statement 
is  withheld  and  the  pupils  are  left  to  understand  that  o  in 
lost  is  pronounced  the  same  as  o  in  not.  So  Pythagoras 
taught  openly  to  the  world  that  the  earth  is  the  centre  of 
our  system;  but  to  his  chosen  disciples  he  taught  that  the 
sun  is  the  central  body. 


ENCYCLOPEDIC  DICTIONARIES. 


A  dictionary  proper  is  a  work  that  explains  the  meaning 
of  words.  An  encyclopaedia  is  a  work  that  gives  informa- 
tion on  the  whole  circle  of  human  knowledge.  An  ency- 
clopaedic dictionary  is  both  in  one. 

In  patriarchal  times,  when  the  lives  of  men  extended 
into  the  centuries,  and  the  literary  accumulations  of  the 
world  bore  some  relation  to  the  capacity  of  the  human 
mind,  the  curriculum  of  the  student  might  be  undertaken 
with  a  degree  of  satisfaction;  but  human  life  is  now 
reduced  to  much  narrower  limits,  and  the  stores  of  liter- 
ature and  science  have  increased  a  thousand  fold.  More, 
the  Platonist,  said  he  was  obliged  to  cut  his  way  through 
a  crowd  of  thoughts  as  through  a  forest.  The  reader  who> 
enters  a  modern  library  can  do  no  more  than  this. 

Old  books  accumulate  and  new  ones  multiply,  and 
most  of  them  must  of  necessity  pass  out  of  use.  But 
there  are  gems  of  thought  in  them  and  vital  points 
of  information  that  the  world  can  not  afford  to  let  die. 
Encyclopaedias  are  therefore  a  necessity  of  the  times. 
It  is  the  office  of  the  encyclopaedia  to  glean  and  pre- 
serve, in  condensed  form,  the  most  valuable  knowledge 
that  is  contained  in  all  the  books  of  all  the  ages. 


DICTIONARIES.  113 

The  encyclopaedic  element  in  dictionaries  has  a  history 
that  is  worth  reviewing.  The  largest  and  most  complete 
of  all  our  early  defining  dictionaries  is  that  of  John  Min- 
sheu,  fol,  London,  1617.  It  is  a  dictionary  of  English 
words,  with'  definitions  mostly  in  English  and  Latin,  and 
a  laborious  attempt  to  fix  the  derivation  of  words.  It 
is  decidedly  encyclopaedic  in  its  character,  giving  proper 
names  of  persons,  places,  etc.  In  the  second  edition, 
1625,  twenty-six  lines  are  devoted  to  the  word  Littleton, 
nine  to  Ccesar,  thirteen  to  Barnabas,  sixteen  to  England, 
and  fifty-six  to  forest.  The  account  of  day,  with  its  sub- 
headings, is  carried  through  two  hundred  lines.  In  the 
definitions  and  illustrations  of  law  terms,  it  is  specially 
full.  Seventy-nine  lines  are  given  to  the  word  fee,  twenty- 
eight  to  plea,  sixty-two  to  bailie,  and  thirty-three  to 
exchequer. 

The  dictionaries  of  Bullokar,  1616;  Cockeram,  1623, 
and  Blount,  1656,  contain  only  the  "hard  words"  of  the 
language.  The  dictionary  of  Edward  Phillips,  1658,  is 
encyclopaedic,  and  contains  pretty  full  descriptions  of 
words  relating  to  biography,  history,  geography,  mythol- 
ogy, etc.  In  the  sixth  edition  of  this  work,  1706,  "it  was 
judged  expedient  to  leave  out  all  abstracts  of  the  lives 
of  eminent  persons,  poetical  fictions,  geographical  descrip- 
tions of  places,"  etc. 

Most  of  the  dictionaries  that  were  published  between 
1658  and  1727  furnish  more  or  less  general  information, 
The  second  volume  of  Bailey's  Dictionary,  1727,  and  Mar- 
tin's Dictionary,  1749,  are  more  encyclopaedic  in  their  cast 
than  any  that  preceded  them.  Dr.  Johnson's  celebrated 
dictionary  appeared  in  1755.  This  work  is  held  closely 
within  the  limits  of  a  dictionary  proper,  and  matters  of 
information  that  do  not  aid  in  defining  and  illustrating 
the  meaning  of  words  are  rejected.  Of  the  dictionaries 
that  appeared  between  1755  and  1850,  those  of  Wm, 
Rider,  1759,  Marchant,  1760,  Penning,  1761,  Barlow,  1772, 
Barclay,  1774,  Ash,  1775,  Marriott,  1780,  and  Craig,  1849,. 


114  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

are  in  a  large  degree  encyclopaedic;  but  most  of  the  others 
-do  not  attempt  to  furnish  general  information. 

Ogilvie's  Imperial  Dictionary,  which  was  published  in 
1850,  made  still  further  encroachments  upon  encyclopaedic 
-ground;  and  the  new  edition  of  the  Imperial  Dictionary, 
by  Annandale,  has  added  more  encyclopaedic  matter  to 
the  first  edition,  by  Ogilvie,  than  Ogilvie  added  to  the 
dictionaries  of  his  predecessors.  Such  are  the  anteced- 
ents of  Hunter's  Encyclopaedic  Dictionary.  Emboldened 
•by  the  popularity  and  success  of  past  efforts,  and  im- 
pressed with  the  belief  that  still  farther  progress  is  de- 
manded, the  author  and  his  associates  have  explored  the 
-whole  range  of  human  knowledge,  and  incorporated  in 
4Jieir  work  a  condensed  encyclopaedia  of  general  infor- 
mation. 

The  Encyclopaedic  Dictionary  will  contain  a  larger 
vocabulary  of  words  than  any  that  has  yet  appeared. 
The  definitions  are  copious,  and  furnish  abundant  evi- 
<lence  that  much  care  and  labor  have  been  bestowed 
upon  them.  Many  of  them  are  fuller  and  more  complete 
than  in  any  previous  work.  But  in  the  highest  and  most 
important  requisites  of  a  defining  dictionary;  in  the  con- 
struction of  clear,  concise,  and  happily  worded  definitions, 
.and  in  the  descrimination  of  nice  and  exact  shades  of 
meaning,  the  Encyclopaedic  Dictionary  can  hardly  be 
said  to  have  risen  to  the  standard  attained  by  Webster 
and  the  Imperial.  The  author  is  over- sensitive  about 
copying  from  his  predecessors",  and  in  his  care  to  avoid 
this  obligation  he'  sometimes  loses  valuable  forms  of 
expression  and  nice  shades  of  discrimination  that  might 
be  borrowed  from  others  without  infringing  upon  the 
rights  of  any. 

The  illustrative  quotations  are  well  chosen.  A  large 
portion  of  them  are  new  and  are  accompanied  by  refer- 
ences to  the  exact  places  where  they  are  to  be  found. 

In  the  grouping  and  discrimination  of  synonyms,  the 
Encyclopaedic  Dictionary  is  exceedingly  defective.  Instead 


DICTIONARIES.  115 

of  original  and  careful  discrimination  by  the  editors,  it 
contains  copious  and  extended  extracts  from  Crabb.  If 
the  same  space  had  been  filled  with  well -selected  syno- 
nyms, and  with  a  brief  discrimination  and  illustration  of 
the  most  important  of  them,  as  in  Webster,  and  Worces- 
ter, and  Ogilvie,  it  would  have  greatly  increased  the  value 
of  the  work. 

Pictorial  definitions  are  coeval  with  the  history  of  lan- 
guage, and  they  were  much  more  largely  employed  in 
primeval  times  than  they  have  been  at  any  later  period. 
It  is  generally  believed  that  all  writing  began  with  pictor- 
ial representation.  The  language  of  the  ancient  Egypt- 
ians and  that  of  the  early  Mexicans,  were  largely  repre- 
sented by  pictures.  The  Orbis  Pictiis  of  Comenius,  the 
prince  of  educational  reformers,  was  published  in  1657. 
It  was  not  a  dictionary,  but  a  collection  of  Latin  sen- 
tences, the  object  of  which  was  to  teach  the  use  of  Latin 
words.  Each  subject  was  illustrated  by  an  engraving, 
with  references  by  numbers  from  the  different  parts  of 
the  cut  to  corresponding  words  in  the  sentence.  These 
illustrations  fore-shadowed  the  pictorial  illustrations  of 
words  that  have  since  been  introduced  in  the  dictiona- 
ries of  Bailey,  and  Ogilvie,  and  others.  The  illustrative 
cuts  of  the  Encyclopaedic  Dictionary  are  well  executed 
and  greatly  enhance  the  value  of  the  work.  They  are 
more  numerous  than  those  of  any  previous  dictionary. 

Another  excellent  feature  is  the  insertion  of  obsolete 
spellings,  showing  the  different  stages  through  which 
words  have  passed.  Thus  with  the  word  air  we  have 
ay  re,  aire,  aier,  eyr,  eir;  and  with  contain  we  have  con- 
tayne,  contene,  conteini,  conteyne,  contienen,  knnteyne,  con- 
teynyn, 

The  authors  of  dictionaries  have  in  many  cases  copied 
the  pronunciation  of  words  from  Walker  and  other  recog- 
nized authorities,  without  subjecting  it  to  the  test  of 
present  usage.  Many  serious  errors  have  by  this  means 
been  introduced  and  perpetuated  in  most  of  the  popular 


Il6  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

dictionaries.  In  noting  the  pronunciation  of  words, 
Hunter  has  introduced  several  important  improvements 
upon  the  dictionaries  now  in  general  use  in  Great  Brit- 
ain. The  sound  of  o  in  lost,  doth,  etc.,  is  made  distinct 
from  the  sound  of  o  in  not.  Ogilvie,  Stormonth,  Nuttall, 
and  Donald  make  it  o  in  uot.  The  sound  of  a  in  care, 
prayer,  etc.,  is  made  distinct  from  that  of  a  in  fate. 
Ogilvie,  Stormonth,  Nuttall,  and  Donald  make  it  a  in 
fate.  The  marking  of  Hunter  in  these  classes  of  words 
agrees  with  that  of  Haldeman,  who  is  probably  the  best 
orthoepical  authority  in  this  country. 

For  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  the  present  usage  in 
the  pronunciation  of  certain  classes  of  words  by  the  best 
speakers  in  England,  and  especially  in  southern  England, 
I  recently  entered  into  a  correspondence  with  a  number 
of  prominent  educators  and  scholars  in  Great  Britain, 
who  occupy  favorable  positions  on  the  hill-tops  of  obser- 
vation. Of  nine  correspondents  who  have  favored  me 
with  their  views  on  these  questions,  five  agree  that  o  in 
lost,  cloth,  etc.,  is  intermediate  between  o  in  not  and  a 
in  aw;  three  would  give  it  the  sound  of  a  in  aw;  and 
only  one  endorses  the  sound  of  o  in  not,  as  given  by 
Ogilvie,  Stormonth,  Nuttall,  and  Donald. 

The  faults  of  Hunter  in  noting  the  pronunciation  of 
words  are  as  great  as  his  excellences.  The  notation 
marks  and  the  key-words  at  the  foot  of  the  pages  abound 
in  imperfections.  The  sound  of  ng  in  sing  is  not  marked 
in  the  first  volume.  In  the  second  volume  this  sound 
is  indicated  by  a  dot  placed  over  the  ;/;  but  no  corres- 
ponding mark  is  found  in  the  list  of  key-words.  The 
syllables  ble  and  die  in  able,  addle,  etc.,  are  represented 
by  bel,  and  del — e  as  in  camel.  Wyclifife  and  Milton 
wrote  battel,  but  battle  is  correctly  pronounced  bat-tl,  and 
never  with  a  vowel  sound  in  the  last*  syllable.  The  word 
bench  is  chosen  as  a  key- word  for  cJi  sounded  as  s/i. 
Ogilvie  and  Stormonth  gave  to  ch  in  bench  the  sound 
of  sh;  but  Nuttall  and  Smart  give  it  the  sound  of  ch  in 


DICTIONARIES.  1 1/ 

chin.  A  key-word  that  is  ambiguous  is  worse  than  use- 
less. The  author's  definition  of  cedilla  (J  is,  "a  mark 
placed  under  the  French  c,  in  order  to  give  it  the  sound 
of  j'V  ghin  and  ^ell  are  both  given  with  the  cedilla,  as 
key-words.  This  introduces  confusion  where  a  distinc- 
tion should  be  sharply  drawn,  and  departs  from  the 
author's  own  definition  of  cedilla. 

A  in  ask,  clasp,  etc.,  is  marked  with  the  sound  of  a  in 
fatJicr.  Ogilvie,  Stormonth,  and  Donald  go  the  opposite 
extreme  and  mark  this  sound  short,  as  in  at.  The  cor- 
rect sound  is  intermediate  between  a  in  at  and  a  in 
father.  Worcester  and  Webster  give  the  intermediate 
sound,  and  several  of  my  English  correspondents  assure 
me  that  the  intermediate  sound  is  generally  employed 
by  the  best  speakers  in  England.  In  the  .word  clink,  n 
has  the  sound  of  ng,  but  Hunter  gives  it  the  proper 
sound  of  ;/,  as  in  sin.  The  word  canary  is  improperly 
pronounced  ca-nar-y,  a  as  in  fare.  In  the  words  chame- 
leon, Crustacea,  calcareous,  etc.,  c  in  the  third  syllable  is 
marked  with  the  sound  of  e  in  met,  but  no  correct 
speaker  ever  gives  it  this  sound. 

The  vowel  sounds  are  in  all  cases  carefully  marked 
in  the  Encyclopaedic  Dictionary.  In  Worcester  and  W'eb- 
ster  the  vowel  sounds  in  most  of  the  unaccented  syllables 
are  not  indicated.  In  the  early  editions  of  the  Imperial 
Dictionary  the  author  expressed  himself  very  strongly 
against  "the  practice  of  noting  the  sound  of  the  vowels  in 
the  unaccented  syllables;"  but  in  the  newly-revised  edition 
of  the  Imperial,  these  sounds  are  all  marked.  Every 
vowel  sound  must  have  some  quality;  and  no  pronounc- 
ing dictionary  can  lay  any  just  claim  to  completeness  if 
it  fails  to  tell  what  that  sound  is.  The  vowels  in  unac- 
cented syllables  are  now  marked  in  nearly  all  of  the 
English  dictionaries,  and  they  have  also  been  marked  by 
Prof.  Haldeman  in  the  Clarendon  Dictionary,  recently 
published  in  this  country. 

In  executing  a  work  of  such  magnitude  as  this,  involving 


Il8  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

such  a  variety  and  multiplicity  of  details,  it  is  impossible 
to  avoid  an  occasional  misstatement,  or  incorrect  form  of 
expression,  or  other  lapse.  Many  examples  like  the  fol- 
lowing might  be  pointed  out.  Under  the  word  bee  it  is 
stated  that  "when  bees  become  too  numerous  in  a  hive, 
a  fresh  queen  is  nurtured,  under  whose  auspices  they 
swarm."  It  is  nearly  a  hundred  years  since  Huber  dis- 
covered that  the  old  queen  leads  the  first  swarm,  and  the 
most  careful  observations  of  bee-raisers  since  his  time 
have  confirmed  his  statement  on  this  point.  In  the  same 
article  occurs  the  sentence:  "The  first-named  are  abortive 
females,  and  do  all  the  work  of  the  society;  they  are 
armed  with  a  sting,  and  their  larvae,  if  treated  with  speci- 
ally rich  food,  can  develop  into  perfect  females."  The 
language  implies  that  their  larvce  means  the  larvae  that 
spring  from  them,  whereas  these  larvae  are  in  fact  the 
larvae  from  which  they  themselves  come.  Under  a,  any 
occurs  the  expression,  ''an  before  a  vowel."  But  in  "many 
a  one,"  a  is  used  before  the  vowel  o,  which  here  has  the  con- 
sonant sound  of  w;  and  in  "a  unit,"  a  is  used  before  the 
vowel  ?/,  which  has  the  consonant  sound  of  y.  It  should 
read,  "an  before  words  commencing  with  a  vowel  sound." 
The  Encyclopaedic  Dictionary  is  a  work  of  laborious 
and  independent  research,  and  the  portion  already  com- 
pleted is  executed  with  great  ability.  In  the  amount  of 
encyclopaedic  information  it  contains,  in  the  extent  of 
its  vocabulary,  and  in  the  introduction  of  historic  spel- 
lings, it  holds  a  position  in  advance  of  all  previous  dic- 
tionaries. 


THE  "  PHILOLOGICAL." 

The  age  of  Elizabeth  has  been  called  the  Golden  Age 
of  English  Literature,  and  that  of  Queen  Anne  the  Augus- 
tan Age.  In  the  absence  of  other  special  characteristics 
to  distinguish  the  present  period  in  Great  Britain,  we  may 
apply  a  less  euphonious  title  and  call  it  the  Age  of  Die- 


DICTIONARIES.  I  I  9 

tionaries.  We  have  had  dictionary  periods  before,  but  the 
immediate  present  is  prolific  beyond  all  precedent.  Trie- 
new  edition  of  "The  Imperial,"  enlarged  by  Annandale,. 
was  completed  a  little  more  than  a  year  ago;  the  "Ency- 
clopaedic Dictionary,"  now  in  course  of  publication,  is  cast 
in  a  still  larger  mould;  and  Stormonth's  "Library  Dic- 
tionary," also  in  course  of  publication,  is  another  aspirant 
in  the  same  field.  And  now  the  Philological  Society  of 
London,  after  twenty-seven  years  of  encouragement  and 
discouragement,  of  progress  and  delay,  has  given  us  the 
First  Part  of  the  "  New  Dictionary  on  Historical  Princi- 
ples," a  work  that  in  its  plan  and  scope  distances  every 
other  dictionary  of  the  language  hitherto  attempted. 

The  scheme  for  a  new  dictionary  by  the  Philological 
Society  had  its  origin  in  a  resolution  of  the  Society  passed 
in  1857,  on  the  recommendation  of  Archbishop  Trench, 
then  Dean  of  Westminster.  The  plan  at  that  time  con- 
templated only  a  supplement  to  Johnson  and  Richardson, 
supplying  their  deficiencies.  Dean  Trench,  Herbert  Cole- 
ridge, and  F.  J.  Furnivall  were  appointed  a  committee  to 
prepare  the  work.  Trench  was  mostly  occupied  with  other 
matters,  and  Coleridge  and  Furnivall  found  the  supple- 
ment plan  a  failure.  It  soon  gave  place  to  a  plan  for  a 
new  dictionary,  with  Coleridge  as  general  editor.  A  large 
number  of  volunteers  were  secured,  including  several 
Americans,  who  undertook  the  search  for  illustrative  quo- 
tations. In  1861,  Coleridge  died,  and  Furnivall  succeeded 
him  as  general  editor.  Despairing  of  completing  the  full 
dictionary  at  which  they  had  been  aiming,  he  planned 
another  and  much  smaller  work,  to  be  carried  on  in  con- 
nection with  the  larger  one,  and  secured  sub-editors  for 
both.  But  as  time  passed  on,  the  work  gradually  slack- 
ened. Some  of  the  workers  were  unable  to  continue  their 
labors  and  some  died;  and,  underlying  all,  it  lacked  the 
pecuniary  support  which  was  necessary  to  carry  it  vigor- 
ously forward.  For  a  time  the  enterprise  seemed  in  dan- 
ger of  proving  abortive.  But  the  materials  continued  to- 


120  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

accumulate  till  more  than  two  millions  of  quotations  had 
been  brought  together. 

A  brighter  day  at  length  dawned.  The  Clarendon  Press, 
in  the  University  of  Oxford,  came  to  the  relief  of  the 
Society,  and  assumed  the  entire  responsibility  of  printing 
and  publishing  the  work.  All  honor  to  glorious  old  Ox- 
ford, renowned  for  literary  achievements  and  ever-faithful 
guardian  of  the  purity  and  progressive  development  of 
our  dear  mother-tongue.  In  1879,  Dr.  J.  A.  H.  Murray, 
president  of  the  Philological  Society,  and  author  of  the 
"  Dialect  of  the  Southern  Counties  of  Scotland  "  and  of 
the  masterly  article  on  the  "  English  Language "  in  the 
"  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,"  became  its  editor.  The  mass 
of  literary  matter  bequeathed  to  him,  printed  and  manu- 
script, amounted  to  over  two  tons  in  weight.  It  had 
accumulated  in  the  house  of  Mr.  Furnivall,  in  boxes,  and 
bales,  and  sacks,  and  parcels  of  various  kinds,  till  it  left 
very  little  room  for  himself  and  family.  The  home  of  Dr. 
Murray,  a  quaint,  white-painted  old  residence  at  Mill  Hill, 
was  now  subjected  to  similar  inconvenience,  and  a  large 
portion  of  the  material  in  his  hands  was  in  a  chaotic  state. 
While  Dr.  Murray  was  studying  how  these  collections 
could  be  assorted  and  arranged  so  as  to  be  made  available 
for  future  use,  his  good  wife  was  studying  how  they  could 
be  got  out  of  the  house,  and  where  they  could  find  a 
suitable  home.  At  her  suggestion,  a  new  building  was 
erected  in  the  garden  adjoining  their  house,  for  the  special 
use  of  the  New  Dictionary.  It  is  an  iron  structure,  fur- 
nished with  over  a  thousand  pigeon-holes  for  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  quotations,  and  with  other  conveniences  for 
dictionary  work.  The  materials  in  hand  were  here  dis- 
tributed in  systematic  order,  and  became  a  quarry  from 
which  a  million  of  stock  settings  for  future  use  in  the 
Dictionary  were  to  be  worked  out. 

But  vast  as  these  accumulations  were,  they  were  found 
to  fall  far  short  of  completeness  for  the  purpose  of  the 
work,  and  a  new  appeal  was  made  for  volunteers  to  collect 


DICTIONARIES.  121 

additional  quotations.  Since  that  time  more  than  a  mil- 
lion of  new  quotations  have  been  furnished,  making  in  all 
about  three  and  a  half  millions,  selected  by  about  thirteen 
hundred  readers  from  the  works  of  more  than  five  thou- 
sand authors  of  all  periods.  A  very  considerable  portion 
of  these  quotations  have  been  selected  by  American 
readers,  under  the  direction  of  Prof.  F.  A.  March,  LL.D., 
of  Lafayette  College,  Easton,  Pa.  One  hundred  and  fifty 
American  readers  are  now  engaged  in  the  work,  of  whom 
about  forty  are  ladies,  and  about  the  same  number  pro- 
fessors or  teachers  of  languages.  Americans  are  to  furnish 
all  the  quotations  from  American  books  for  the  whole 
work.  Neither  Prof.  March  nor  any  of  his  assistants  re- 
ceive any  pecuniary  compensation  for  their  labor.  It  is 
worthy  of  special  note,  that  while  professors  in  our  Ameri- 
can colleges  and  universities  have  responded  nobly  to  the 
appeal  for  assistance,  very  little  help  has  been  received 
from  the  colleges  and  universities  of  Great  Britain. 

The  corrugated -iron  building  in  Dr.  Murray's  garden, 
which  is  itself  sky-lighted,  but  encroaches  somewhat  upon 
the  small-paned  windows  of  his  house,  has  been  called  by 
various  names — the  "  Dictionary  Den,"  the  "Lexicographi- 
cal Laboratory,"  etc.  Dr.  Murray,  who  is  now  the  great 
word -master  of  the  language,  has  brought  a  word  from 
the  sacred  precincts  of  monastic  life,  and  calls  it  the 
"  Scriptorium,"  and  that  it  may  have  a  sure  footing  in  the 
language,  he  dates  the  preface  of  his  work  from  "The 
Scriptorium."  But  Dr.  Murray  is  a  wise  master-builder, 
and  the  language  is  safe  in  his  hands.  He  may  call  a 
useful  word  out  from  obscurity  and  give  it  fresh  light,  but 
he  is  in  no  danger  of  following  the  example  of  the  early 
dictionary-makers,  who  coined  new  words  freely  in  their 
dictionaries,  but  had  no  power  to  secure  their  recognition 
in  the  family  of  English  words.  Even  the  great  Augus- 
tus, though  a  distinguished  patron  of  learning  and  pos- 
sessed of  unlimited  power,  was  compelled  to  acknowledge 
that  he  could  not  add  a  new  word  to  the  Latin  tongue. 
9 


122  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

Those  who  are  interested  in  the  progress  of  the  Diction- 
ary will  be  interested  in  knowing  something  of  the  editor. 
Dr.  Murray  is  the  son  of  a  Scotch  school-master.  He  was 
for  a  time  employed  as  an  assistant-teacher,  and  afterward 
as  a  clerk  in  the  Bank  of  India.  He  is  now  a  master  in  the 
Mill-Hill  Grammar  School,  London,  where  he  still  spends 
a  portion  of  his  time  in  teaching.  His  principal  assistant 
at  the  Scriptorium  is  Mr.  Alfred  Erlebach,  a  former  master 
of  the  school,  and  he  has  in  addition  one  or  two  male 
assistants  and  one  or  two  lady  assistants.  This  is  the 
working  home  force  of  the  greatest  literary  undertaking 
of  the  century!  O,  for  another  DTsraeli  to  write  for  us 
"  The  Marvels  of  English  Literature."  The  scanty  finan- 
cial support  of  Johnson  and  Webster,  while  engaged  in 
writing  their  dictionaries,  for  which  England  and  America 
owe  them  an  undying  debt  of  gratitude,  has  passed  into 
history.  Can  it  be  possible  that  the  nation  which  has 
given  us  a  language  that  commands  the  admiration  of  the 
world,  with  all  her  intelligence  and  wealth,  will  allow  the 
history  of  Johnson  and  Webster  to  be  repeated  in  the 
preparation  of  the  New  Dictionary  of  the  Philological 
Society  ?  Where  are  her  noblemen  and  others  of  bound- 
less wealth,  who  accept  dedications  of  scholarly  works 
and  consider  it  an  honor  to  be  ranked  as  patrons  of  litera- 
ture and  science  ?  The  Oxford  press  desires  to  bring  out 
the  work  in  ten  years,  and  if  Dr.  Murray  could  devote  all 
his  time  to  it,  and  have  all  the  competent  assistants  he 
needs,  it  could  be  accomplished  in  less  time  than  that; 
but  if  his  Scriptorium  is  to  be  an  adjunct  of  the  Mill-Hill 
school,  and  he  is  to  be  limited  to  two  or  three  assistant 
home  editors,  it  will  require  at  least  twenty  years  to  com- 
plete the  work  with  the  same  degree  of  thoroughness  and 
care  that  are  everywhere  manifest  in  Part  I. 

The  Dictionary  gives  an  account  of  the  meaning,  origin, 
and  history  of  all  English  words  now  in  use,  or  known  to 
have  been  in  use  at  any  time  during  the  last  seven  hun- 
dred years,  and  illustrates  these  points  by  a  series  of  quo- 


DICTIONARIES.  123 

tations  arranged  in  chronological  order.  These  quotations, 
drawn  directly  from  the  best  writers  in  the  language  dur- 
ing all  this  period,  are  the  most  valuable  feature  of  the 
Dictionary,  and  present  to  the  world  a  daguerreotype  im- 
pression of  the  various  changes  that  have  taken  place  in 
the  form  and  meaning  of  words  since  the  date  of  their 
first  appearance  in  the  language.  The  value  of  these  quo- 
tations is  greatly  enhanced  by  an  exact  reference  in  all 
cases  to  the  author,  work,  and  passage,  so  that  the  quota- 
tion may  at  any  time  be  verified  and  the  context  ex- 
amined. 

Another  excellent  feature,  in  which  this  work  excels  all 
others,  is  the  great  use  that  is  made  of  different  kinds  and 
styles  of  type,  and  a  systematic  arrangement  of  para- 
graphs, by  which  all  the  principal  distinctions  are  made 
to  speak  plainly  and  eloquently  to  the  eye.  The  size  of 
the  pages  is  exactly  the  same  as  that  of  the  great  French 
dictionary  of  Littre,  and  about  one-sixth  larger  than  that 
of  the  pages  in  Webster's  Unabridged.  The  Part  already 
published  contains  352  pages,  and  the  whole  work  when 
completed  will  fill  six  quarto  volumes  of  about  1400  pages 
each.  It  will  contain  nearly  twice  as  many  words  as  either 
of  the  great  English  and  American  dictionaries. 

The  definitions  have  been  to  a  great  extent  framed  anew 
upon  a  study  of  the  quotations  collected  for  the  work. 
These  quotations  have  furnished  means  never  before  pos- 
sessed for  learning  the  different  meanings  of  words;  and 
the  new  dictionary  is  entitled  to  the  credit  of  introducing 
more  valuable  improvements  in  definitions  than  any  other 
work  that  has  appeared  since  the  publication  of  Webster's 
American  Dictionary,  in  1828.  It  must,  however,  be  said 
that  Dr.  Murray,  in  his  laudable  effort  to  make  the  defini- 
tions as  original  as  possible,  has  gone  to  an  extreme  which 
has,  in  some  cases,  led  to  the  substitution  of  new  defini- 
tions for  better  ones  already  in  use.  The  best  defining 
dictionary  of  the  language  is  the  "  Imperial,"  but  there 
are  lexicographers  who  have  written  more  good  definitions 


124  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

than  either  Ogilvie  or  Annandale.  It  is  the  best  because 
it  is  based  upon  the  accumulated  excellence  of  all  defini- 
tions previously  written,  with  many  added  improvements,, 
including  nearly  all  the  new  definitions  of  Webster,  the 
peerless  definer.  Johnson  and  Webster  and  others  have 
used  freely  the  definitions  of  their  predecessors,  and  if 
they  had  not  done  this  the  quality  of  definitions  instead 
of  improving  would  inevitably  have  deteriorated,  since  the 
best  defining  words  and  phrases  would  have  been  appro- 
priated by  the  earlier  gleaners.  Nor  is  there  anything 
dishonorable  or  discourteous  in  this  practice.  With  the 
exception  of  definitions  that  are  claimed  to  be  covered  by 
copyright,  it  is  universal. 

The  editor  has  applied  the  historical  principle  quite  ex- 
tensively to  the  definitions  that  he  has  adopted  from  pre- 
vious dictionaries,  and  given  both  authors  and  dates.  It 
is  interesting  to  know  the  original  authors  of  happily- 
framed  definitions  that  have  now  become  common  prop- 
erty, and  especially  of  those  which  were  written  one  or 
two  hundred  years  ago.  Definitions  have  undergone  so 
many  changes-in  passing  through  the  long  line  of  English 
dictionaries  that  the  attempt  to  exhibit  even  a  small  ^ 
portion  of  them  historically  is  a  task  of  some  difficulty, 
and  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  these  references  will 
be  free  from  errors  in  the  first  edition  of  the  New  Dic- 
tionary. 

I  have  taken  all  the  seventeenth  century  quotations 
that  I  find  in  the  definitions  of  the  first  forty  pages,  and 
subjected  them  to  the  test  of  examination,  with  the  dic- 
tionaries of  that  century  before  me,  for  the  special  purpose 
of  finding  and  correcting  as  many  errors  as  possible.  The 
fruit  of  this  search  is  here  presented  as  a  contribution  to 
the  next  edition  of  these  pages: 

(I.)  I  find  six  instances,  under  the  words  Abgregate, 
A  b  lac  ted,  Ablectick,  Abliguire,  A  b  locate,  Abrodietical,  in 
which  the  date  of  Cockeram's  dictionary  is  given  as  1612. 
The  first  edition  of  Cockeram  was  published  in  1623. 


DICTIONARIES.  125 

(2.)  " Abgregate. — 'To  disperse,  as  it  were  to  lead  out 
of  the  flock.' — Cockeram,  1612.  Phillips,  1678." 

In  two  editions  of  Cockeram,  I  find  this  definition  given, 
"To  lead  out  of  the  flock,"  and  not  in  the  extended  form 
as  quoted.  In  Phillips  it  is  given  as  quoted.  Cockeram's 
name  should  not  be  attached  to  a  definition  that  is  in- 
cluded in  marks  of  quotation,  unless  the  definition  is  found 
in  his  dictionary  as  quoted. 

(3.)  Under  the  word  A  bander  ado,  a  definition  is  quoted 
from  "Minsheu,  1623."  There  is  no  such  edition  of  Min- 
sheu.  The  first  edition  was  published  in  1617,  and  the 
second  in  1625-7;  and  no  edition  was  issued  between 
these  dates.  (See  Wheatley,  in  Philological  Society's 
Transactions,  1865,  p.  230.) 

(4.)  "Ablectick. — 'Anything  garnished  for  sale.' — Cock- 
eram, 1612.  Cole,  1708." 

This  last  name  is  Coles  and  not  Cole;  and  it  should  not 
have  been  introduced  at  all,  as  the  definition  is  distin- 
guished by  quotation  marks,  and  should  therefore  be 
literal.  I  have  turned  to  three  editions  of  Coles,  and  in 
all  of  them  this  word  is  defined,  "adorned  for  sale." 

(5.)  "Abrodietical.  —  'A  delicate  person.'  —  Cockeram, 
1612.  'Feeding  daintily,  delicate,  luxurious.' — Minsheu, 
1627." 

This  last  definition  is  a  wide  departure  from  Minsheu's, 
and  yet  enclosed  in  marks  of  quotation.  In  Minsheu, 
1627,  it  reads,  "an  Abrodieticall,  a  daintie  feeder,  or  deli- 
cate person." 

(6.)  Under  Absorb  it  is  stated  that  this  word  is  "in  no 
Diet.  bef.  Blount,  1656."  Minsheu,  1627,  has  "Absorbe, 
to  sup  up." 

The  question  whether  a  general  dictionary  should  com- 
bine a  certain  amount  of  encyclopaedic  information  with  the 
definition  of  words  has  been  on  trial  more  than  two  and  a 
half  centuries,  and  is  still  as  far  as  ever  from  being  settled. 
The  dictionaries  that  have  recently  appeared  in  Great 
Britain  have  embodied  more  encyclopaedic  knowledge  than 


126  WILLIAM    HARVEY    WELLS. 

any  that  preceded  them,  and  it  became  a  matter  of  some 
interest  to  know  how  this  question  would  be  treated  in  the 
dictionary  of  the  Philological  Society.  It  is  safe  to  say 
that,  with  few  exceptions,  the  lovers  of  good  English  will 
be  gratified  to  find  that  the  New  Dictionary  ''explains 
words,  and  deals  with  the  description  of  things  only  so  far 
as  it  is  necessary  in  order  to  fix  the  exact  signification 
and  use  of  words."  The  dictionary  proper  should  treat  of 
language,  leaving  the  encyclopaedia  to  do  its  own  appro- 
priate work. 

Special  attention  is  given  to  pronunciation,  and  every 
sound  in  a  word,  whether  plain  or  obscure,  is  distinctly 
indicated  by  a  system  peculiar  to  this  dictionary. 

It  is  remarkable  that  in  a  work  of  such  scope  and  mag- 
nitude, comprising  such  a  variety  of  particulars,  and  the 
relations  of  so  many  different  parts  to  one  symmetrical 
Avhole,  there  should  be  found  in  the  initial  part  so  few 
imperfections  and  so  many  excellences.  It  is  an  honor  to 
the  science  of  philology,  and  a  boon  to  the  English  lan- 
guage of  inestimable  value. 

But  the  New  Dictionary,  with  all  its  merits,  will  not, 
even  when  complete,  be  found  adapted  to  popular  use, 
and  it  will  be  beyond  the  reach  of  a  large  portion  of  those 
who  have  frequent  occasion  to  consult  a  dictionary.  They 
require  a  very  different  kind  of  work,  and  in  more  con- 
venient form,  and  it  would  lose  its  proud  position  in 
advance  of  all  other  dictionaries  if  it  attempted  to  meet 
these  wants. 

The  only  work  with  which  the  New  Dictionary  can 
properly  be  compared  is  the  great  historical  French  Dic- 
tionary of  Littre.  The  New  Dictionary  is  in  a  great  de- 
gree modelled  after  that  of  Littre,  but  the  improvements 
upon  Littre,  in  both  plan  and  execution,  are  visible  on 
every  page.  The  historical  quotations  are  fuller  and  more 
complete  than  his,  and  the  work,  when  completed,  will  be 
about  once  and  a-half  the  size  of  Littre's. 

The  Dictionary  of  Littre  was  commenced  in  1863  and 


DICTIONARIES.  1 27 

completed  in  1873,  and  cost  the  author  more  than  twenty- 
five  years  of  time.  It  is  the  fruit  of  personal  labor  that 
is  without  a  parallel  in  any  language.  His  quotations 
were  nearly  all  from  his  own  personal  reading,  and  a  large 
part  of  the  manuscript  was  in  his  own  hand.  His  wife 
and  daughter  did  most  of  the  copying.  His  work  was 
accomplished  largely  in  the  night,  when  he  was  sure  to  be 
free  from  interruptions,  usually  continuing  his  labors  till 
three  in  the  morning,  and  often  till  a  still  later  hour.  His 
assistants  left  him  at  midnight. 

The  first  number  of  the  great  historical  German  Dic- 
tionary of  Grimm  made  its  appearance  in  1852,  and  the 
work  is  still  in  progress.  It  exerted  an  important  influ- 
ence in  shaping  the  plan  of  Littre,  and  has  been  of  essen- 
tial service  to  the  editors  of  the  New  Dictionary. 

Special  credit  should  also  be  given  to  Richardson, 
whose  English  Dictionary  was  commenced  in  the  "  Ency- 
clopaedia Metropolitana"  in  1818,  and  published  complete 
as  a  separate  work  in  1837,  *n  two  volumes,  quarto.  Not- 
withstanding its  many  defects,  the  author  is  entitled  to 
the  credit  of  doing  valuable  pioneer  service  in  introduc- 
ing the  historic  method  of  treating  words  in  a  dictionary 
which  has  been  so  ably  carried  forward  and  improved  by 
Grimm,  and  Littre,  and  the  Philological  Society.  His 
definitions  are  illustrated  by  copious  quotations  from  a 
series  of  authors,  commencing  with  the  early  stages  of 
the  language  and  continuing  down  to  the  present  century. 
These  quotations  are  arranged  in  chronological  order, 
and  exhibit,  with  some  degree  of  fulness,  the  biography 
of  the  words  in  his  dictionary. 

In  the  long  line  of  authors  who  have  written  English 
dictionaries,  there  are  many  who  have  contributed  valu- 
able improvements,  but  few  who  have  built  up  from  the 
foundation.  The  first  great  name  in  English  lexicogra- 
phy was  Bailey;  the  second  was  Johnson;  and  the  third 
was  Webster.  The  appearance  of  the  New  Dictionary 
marks  an  important  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  language,. 


128  WILLIAM    HARVEY   WELLS. 

and  the  portion  already  executed  gives  assurance  in  ad- 
vance that  the  name  of  Murray  will  occupy  the  fourth 
place  in  this  list  of  distinguished  names  that  the  English- 
speaking  world  will  ever  delight  to  honor. 


FERGUS    PRINTING    COMPANY,  CHICAGO. 


YC  56463 


M181744 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


•-"-..';' 

im  s 


